My horse got himself cast last night

[babyblue]

Dh brought the old horse in last night, was rainy so first thing old horse does is lie down and roll in the fresh shavings. Dh was still in the stall going to dump the water bucket so old horse lies down farther away from Dh instead of the middle as usual. Stall is 12x14 so not tiny. Lies down, rolls and realizes he is stuck. Kicks a few times and then stopped and just looked at Dh. Dh is dumbfounded and just stares at him. So old horse wiggles then stops looks around and wiggles some more. Dh runs to get me in the house at this point because while old horse will lie totally still when you tell him dh has no idea how to unstick him.


I come running out to the barn in my pjs. At this point old horse has wiggled and moved himself more. I yell at him to stand and he does and just stares at me. Old horse had gotten his front hooves in a way that he placed them on the wall. Then like a human would do a push up pushes his legs out straight pushing his body several feet from the wall. Stands up, shakes and shoves his head in the bucket to eat his supper.


Last night he looked totally fine, moved fine, ate and drank and vitals were fine. Had the tiniest of scratches on his head so I cleaned that and put the yellow fura stuff on it. This morning and today he is fine. Eating drinking, pissy cause he hasn't gone out to pasture yet. The area around the scratch was a little swollen so I did call and talk to the vet. She assured me that if his vitals are good and he is moving eating drinking he is fine.


Vet also said to me that its very likely he has cast himself and gotten himself uncast before because of how he acted. I have owned him for more then 14 years now and have never ever seen him do this. So goes to show just because you haven't seen it does not mean it cant or wont happen. We are moving in less then a month, new barn has wood walls with rubber. So in the mean time I am going to bank the walls well with shavings so its hard for him to get close again.

 

[PitterPaws]

I'm picturing it as I read it; horse upside down with feet sticking straight up in the air, looking over at husband, like are you going to help me or what?!

Happy he is ok! The things animals get themselves into!!

 

[Humhill]

I wouldn't worry about it too much as long as he's acting normal. They get cast all the time. It scares the poo out of us, but usually they get themselves out of it and are fine. One of my actually got cast while I was in the barn the other day. Pulled his hind end out some (he's a mini) and he was able to push the rest of himself off the wall.
I have heard you can place a couple 2x4's on the wall a couple feet up from the floor to give them something to get traction against. They also sell a product that you can use that basically does the same thing.

http://www.americasacres.com/product.aspx/11/Up~Right-Anti~Cast-Safety-Strips

 

[welsummerchicks]

Glad he's ok. It can be very dangerous.

We've had to sedate a couple of them and pull them out away from the wall.

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

I think he was puttin' on a show for your DH

Old horse is smart...........he thinks to himself - wonder how long it will take me to get the two leg misses out here. Hmmmmm, if I scare the two leg mister............



Glad he is a-ok. It is incredible the mischief they can get into.

 

[welsummerchicks]

Having arrived at the barn to find a cast horse dead with a broken neck or with very serious injuries, I don't take it lightly. Not every horse lies there quietly, and none of them do it for attention.

Especially with older horses, but with any horse, it's worthwhile considering that the horse got cast in the first place because it was colicking, because the stall/bedding need to change, because it got caught on something - all of which could need attention.

 

[babyblue]

I don't take it lightly either. I was absolutely terrified of what I might have found running out to the barn. I use to be a groom and exercise rider. The tb's seemed to get themselves stuck all the time. Horrific career and sometimes life ending injury's were the norm rather then the exception when it would happen. One hit his head so hard he cracked his skull. Another broke both front legs to the point where they were dangling.... and was still struggling to get up.




Also like wc said I checked him over well. I take vitals for everything, because those will be off long before colic or other things are obviously bad. If I can head off an illness or injury in any way I will do that. I am fairly sure old horse just didn't want to roll so close to dh so he was closer to the wall then usual. The tbs I use to work with I could tell you exactly why they got stuck. 10x10 or less stalls with hay and feed buckets in them is not very big for 16+hand long bodied horses. These were race horses too, so at the end of the day they were tired and virtually every single one would lie down and sleep at least once or twice a day.

 

[pbjmaker]

For us horse idiots please explain what "cast" means besides something used to protect a broken bone.

 

[EweSheep]

Cast=stuck/can't get up

 

[terrilhb]

I was going to ask too. I felt dumb.

Thanks for explaining.