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My Anglo-Arab mare hurt herself AGAIN last week.  She kicked through a fence 
that was made of cables strung about 15" apart through railroad ties, and 
ended up getting her whole hind leg, up to the udder, through the cables.  
Removed 
lots of skin getting herself out, like maybe a couple square feet.  There 
doesn't seem to be anything deep, but like road rash from falling off a 
motorcycle in a t-shirt, she's burned all up and down the leg, and under neath 
where 
the leg joins to the body.  Happened last Friday morning (the 14th) and I put 
her in a stall with a blanket and Bute for several days.  She looked pretty 
good 
when I was last out there (I board), which was Sunday nite.  I have had the 
flu all week, and haven't had the energy to get out of the house.  The people 
who are taking care of her stopped giving her the bute on about Tuesday, by my 
instruction.  

I went out last nite (the 21st) and she looked AWFUL.  She would barely walk, 
and seemed lame both front and rear, although it's hard to tell when the 
horse won't trot out.  She was short striding on one front and also behind.  
The 
scrapes are to the point where the surface scabs are peeling off to reveal pink 
skin underneath, and the deeper scabs are breaking up and pulling off in some 
places and still bleeding.  The worst hind leg (the right) is still swollen, 
but there are no obvious signs (like oozing pus) of infection.  In the past, 
any scrapes to the lower leg have caused the leg to swell almost until the 
scrapes healed, so I wasn't very worried about the swelling.  I honestly 
haven't 
taken her to the vet for a lameness exam mainly because I don't think the vet 
could tell much at this point, due to the surface scrapes and her general 
reluctance to move.  She's a real wuss when it comes to pain, just trying to 
hose 
her off and spray antibiotic/enzyme stuff on it has NOT been fun.  She looked 
so bad last nite that I had the stable owners put her back on bute, she would 
be more comfortable, move around a bit more, and hopefully not be so stiff.

My questions are two:  
   1.  At what point can I really expect the skin to heal enough so that 
taking her      to the vet will show if she's lame due to tendon/ligament 
injuries?

   2.  Has anyone had much luck campaigning an accident prone horse in         
       endurance?  This is the fourth time this year that I have had her 
down due to         an injury.  She tore a suspensory in Feb by getting her 
foot 
hung up in a loop        of wire and pulling back, she pulled a pipe out of 
the crosstie and ran around        with that banging into her for a couple 
minutes (mostly scrapes and bruises),         she ran in the pasture and 
"sprained" 
her ankle (some fairly lowgrade soft            tissue damage, like a 
ligament in the fetlack/pastern area) and now this.  

This mare is my favorite riding horse.  She is smooth, broke to death with an 
occasional attitude just for fun, nine years old.  I raised her from birth, 
and she has had a fair number of these kinds of boo-boos over the years.  She 
has done about 250 miles of LD, then two slow 50's last year.  I have had high 
hopes since she was born that she would be THE ONE.  But all these injuries 
have got me concerned that maybe she will not make an endurance horse.  She has 
had Dressage lessons, and would probably have a fine career at least up to 3rd 
or 4th level, as she is a nice mover.  But I don't want to show, I want to do 
endurance.  

The other question I have is does anyone have experience with breeding an 
accident prone horse, and how did the baby turn out.  The Arab mare this girl 
is 
out of has only had one incident, where she was put in a pasture with two 
geldings and run into a barbed wire fence (live and learn), so I don't think 
she 
gets it from her mom.  Any comments would be appreciated.  jeri

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