Sooo....what do you think did this to my horse?

[Warfrost]

This looks nothing like an animal attack to me. It looks more like she walked too close to, or rubbed on something sharp-ish..maybe a wall with a bit of nail poking out. If it were an animal attack, the results would be far more jagged and torn. If it were, say, a big cat attack, there wouldn't be just one mark..there would be several matching marks- one for each claw, plus there would be marks elsewhere on her, because a big cat doesn't attack with just one paw...they attack with both, ferociously. You also probably would have heard the commotion, or your dogs would have, and all the animals would have been flipping out. I doubt it was a coyote..they are pretty small animals, and don;t attack the same way as a big cat. They would attack low, at the legs.

 

[Ibicella]

Coyotes have amazing jumping ability, so they COULD jump up that high. But they wouldn't tackle a full grown horse. A pack might go after a foal or miniature horse, but not an adult mustang.

If it was a predator, I'd say a cougar. They are pretty much the only thing outside of a pack of wolves that I could think of that would bother with such large prey.

Really hard to tell though. Could well just be a nail or something.

 

[noodleroo]

Quote:
I vote this.

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

Quote:
I vote this.

x2. I had a cougar attack a 17-hand thoroughbred once, and he had claw marks streaked down both sides of his rump, both shoulders, and a huge bite mark over the top of his neck...

 

[1stepcloser]

My horse once rolled on something and impailed herself on the butt. It looked like someone drove a stake into her butt and yanked it out. We still have no idea what it actually was or how she did it. Horses aren't the most graceful things when they are lying down.

 

[Why and Dotte]

horses being horses...
Even a low tree branch, an unknown pipe in the ground, sounds strange but I live on old farm property and there is a lot of old oil well sites several of them have had pipes, rods, wires even tools that eventually show up that weren't there before. Sounds like a death trap I know, it's mostly in the wooded/unfenced areas.
Horses have ways of making crazy marks on each other during kicking fights too.
If it was a coyote they would hunt in a pack with a horse (if they were dumb enough to try) and you'd hear a whole lot of noise.

 

[Debbi]

Looks to me to be a self inflicted wound. Back in the late 60s, we had three horses attacked by a cougar in one night. The woman who owned the place had gone out for the evening, next morning, all three horses had the same marks. Very obvious what it was. The cougar attacked all three from behing, and left a trail of claw marks down either side of the spine, starting at the withers and going clear back to the rump. This was in Connecticut, so the Sheriff and Game Warden poo-pooed the idea of a big cat. Two days later, a farmer about 10 miles north, had shot the cat after it attacked some of his calves. Thank God, all three of the horses were fine, although they did have some pretty deep wounds. These were not young or very old horses, and the smallest one was probably 15 hands!

 

[babyblue]

I would be very suprised if it was an animal attack. looks to me like an old bit of wire or metal worked its way out of the soil threw rain and errosion. happens at my farm all the darn time because long out people just threw stuff everywhere around here. even a jagged tree branch could have done it.

 

[Rammy]

I have a horse and I cant even begin to tell you how many times shes hurt herself and required vet care because she rolled, impaled, or whatever and leaving me no clue as to how she did it. Id say she rubbed up against something and did that to herself. One rule of thumb I learned long ago, when you have a horse, your first piece of equipment you need is a hammer so you can nail down anything sticking out in thier stall, because if you dont , they will find it!!

Rammy