Horse emergency, super heavy bleeding

[HeatherLynn]

Horse is doing great so far. No signs of infection. He stood pretty still . Took 3 of us to change the bandage. My mom ended up doing that while we held a leg and kept him still. BTW if he shakes his head hard enough he can knock me off my feet. sigh

Where we put him is very makeshift. We used all the farm gates we own to make a sorta half ring up against the barn. Then had to separate off a stall for him. He is usually just in there with the others. We do not confine them. Thankfully there are 2 entrances and his little ring had access to one of them. So we did some manipulating and made sure he had a secure stall and tried to make sure that even with the rain he did not end up standing in water even outside. The stall is dry but he is not fond of being inside. I swear my dad was considering putting a huge tarp over his little ring.

It really is a terrible wound. We found where we did it. There was actually a hunk of flesh laying on the ground. That sorta gives you an idea. Nothing there that should have done it though. we still have no clue how he got hurt. The vet said he didn't think it was animal but there was nothing there that should have hurt him. So even being chased and bullied by the other horse he should have been fine. He was run into the fence but nothing to get tangled in or anything. no clue. He has a huge hunk of flesh missing right above his hoof. Actually a bit of flesh missing behind the hoof too. Its bad. The vet did stitches but said he could not do more than he did because there was just too much missing. So we are looking at many months of recovery. My dad is working on dividing a side field so he can have his own field to recoop in.

 

[PAchickenlover]

Wow, good job! That horse is lucky to have you and your family to take care of it. You never know the horse may end up realizing that you are his friends and are not doing him harm, he may actually start to calm down around you.. I don't know the horse and haven't seen him but that is just a guess of mine. I rode and trained horses for years and they are very smart animals. Do you ever take a treat out with you when you go to change the dressing on his leg? Carrots, apples, even sugar cubes (not recommended very often, but can be given on occasion) Try to make your being around him as plesant as possible so he might make the connection. Do you know how old the horse is? Do you know what breed it is? These are all things that can be usefull in learning how to gain the horses trust. Keep up the good work and let me know if I can help in any way.

 

[HeatherLynn]

oh he gets tons of carrots at this point. For whatever reason this horse gets nervous about apples. He will take a bite and then get all skittish and drop the rest. Carrots he cannot refuse though. It takes like 4 carrots just to get through a bandage change though. Horse is going to have orange poo at this point.

It took 4 of us to do the dressing today. He ended up breaking the post he was tethered to. He was very anti us changing his bandage. Thankfully my husband is home tomorrow and he can help because my dads shoulder is now out. The horse jerked him hard while me and mom were working on his leg. He didn't want him hurting us so he and my nephew hung on. The horse really likes my husband so hoping tomorrow goes easier.

Leg continues to look better. Still no sign of infection. Thats our big worry. We are unsure on age but my brother is pretty positive that he is over 15. Just not sure how much an older abused horse can take. We found out that his other front leg is messed up also. Old injury. My sister knew about it but did not tell us. He cannot hold weight on that leg very well so he tends to try to lay down pretty often. Its going to be a long tricky recovery but so far so good.

 

[Chick named Lola]

Wow! Super duper lucky horse! That happened to a TB I rescued off the track. I'll never forget her...Hope for Glitter was her name. We had her a week, found a fabulous forever foxhunting home and the day we were supposed to deliver her...I got there first. I smelled the blood first and then realized I was standing in a giant pool of it. I looked for the horses who were all across the creek and there was Hope laying on the ground with blood spurting like I've never seen from her front leg. We took off her racing plates so it wasn't that...we actually never found out what caused it. The vet said since she was laying in the leaf litter and it was such an open wound that her chances were too slim. He put her down right there. It was such and awful experience. That was the day I found out why the barn owner kept a bunch of disposable diapers in the barn.

I'm so glad your horse was much luckier than sweet Hope. He's so blessed to have someone like you to take care of him. They know when they've been rescued...I bet he ends up being a fav. of yours!

Keep us posted on how he's doing! Good work that is a seriously scary story!