Mary I feel for you and Jack. All
I can say is I wouldn't immediately write Jack off as far as being rideable
again. I have seen some unbelievable injuries that have healed to a degree
no-one ever expected. I would keep the faith. Healing miracles happen all the
time and there is no reason Jack can't be one of them. And remember accidents
happen to good people and horses and IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT!!!! Sending you
good thoughts. Mary
I had a horrible accident with
Jack yesterday. I?m fine but he is not. We were out riding by our old
house and came down off a slight hill with a dip along the side of the road
where the water runs when it rains. When we got to the bottom he
caught his hind leg in some loose ?under the grass and hidden ? barb
wire and went down on his knees. I always watch very carefully for wire and
never saw it. He struggled hard to get loose and finally ripped the barb
wire from whatever it was attached to and ran down the road dragging it.
I ran after him and finally got him. It was horrible. He was
spurting blood and about 3-4 inches of flesh were missing with the tendon gone
and the bone totally exposed. Fortunately I had my cell phone and
although I was hysterical I managed to call the vets office. I got a
tourniquet and held it onto him. Dr. Peters got there about ½ hour later
and managed to bandage and fashion a temporary splint. By that time a
nice man had driven to get my husband who was outside cutting the grass and
never heard the phone. I also called a neighbor, Donna, who had been a large
animal vet tech. She came and helped before the vet arrived. She
also went to get my car and horse trailer ? which of course were in different
locations. After much effort we managed to get him to the clinic where
he was cleaned, ragged flesh removed, given antibiotics etc. and had a cast
put on. We still don?t know what will happen. The barb wire also
scraped the bone and got into part of the joint. The only good thing was
that it was the front of his leg and that the joint it got into is not a real
necessary joint ? if that is possible. We will be watching for infection
? especially in the bone and joint. He is going to be at the vets for at
least 10 days and if he makes it, he will need complete stall rest for 6
months. No riding for at least 1 year. If he makes it he deserves
to be a pasture pet for the rest of his life. It has been a horrible
day.
Has anyone?s horse experienced an
injury like this? I know he will never be my endurance horse again, but
what are his chances of living a comfortable life. Is it cruel or in his
best interests to do this stall rest? I don?t want to prolong any
suffering for him but if this is a curable injury, he deserves a good
life.
BTW ? I trained him to give to
pressure and if this had been an ordinary barbed wire incident I think he
would have been fine. The problem was that he fell into a ditch and was so off
balance - at one point he was actually laying on his side - that there was
nothing he could do but move and then when it kept digging in he really
panicked.
