Re: RC: OUCH!!!!!!!!

[wsabg@t-online.de (Wolfgang Schwingenheuer)]

Rides 2 Far wrote:

> snip.

> The vet shot an x-ray and the stick had stopped just short of the joint
> but was headed right for it. >whew!!!!<  Looks like it all came out.  So,
> antibiotics, bute, and trying to keep it clean while it heals.  What the
> heck, what's money? >g<  Just happy to get it out of there.  Can't
> believe the poor guy's been walking around with that in there for 6 days.
>  I've had people describe stuff like this, but it was a first for
> me...for the vet too from the way he acted.
>
> Angie

Hi Angie,

at the WEC in Dubai 1998 we had a similar problem with the horse I should crew for.
When we (the crews) arrived in Dubai a few days before the start, this horse went
lame. The german officials told me that the rider had overridden the horse in the
sand. It should be a defect of a tendon or something like that. But neither the Team
Vet nor the official vet had found the reason. They made xrays etc. from the whole
leg, but not the hoof! After lot of treatment with this and that one member of the
crew took a deeper look at the hoof. He scraped a bit near the frog and suddenly the
horse jumped. What did he found? A huge nail (about 3" long) stuck into the hoof.
After they removed it, the owner was glad that there was no further damage caused by
the nail itself. But because of the infection the team vets treated the leg with a
special ointment over night. The next morning after removing the wrapping there was
virtually no hair at the leg with open spots and "raw meat". The ointment was too
"strong"...
The horse must have stepped into that nail while being on the training course. If it
was just the nail, the owner (and rider) guessed that he was able to start with the
horse. But after that treatment and the open leg all hope was gone... So, if you have
a lame horse and you do some xrays, make just one more shot of the hoof, there could
be a surprise. If the official vet had made that in Dubai, we could have had three
days more to get the horse fit.

Wolfgang (part of the German Crew Team in Dubai 1998)
Germany