Monday, May 14, 2007

More Life Lessons - an Arabian Filly Injured


I've mention in the posts about Dandy that I've had problems here with a filly but I've never really gone into details. Because it was complicated, I didn't want to get off the track from Rachel and Grandma and an Arabian Horse. Since I'm caught up there with that story and you've been asking, I will go over what has happened with Echo.

Scandalous Echo is a yearling filly by Scandalous Legacy and out of KG Phadra Rose. She is a precocious filly and has been a Houdini about getting out of stalls. She's been moved a couple of times trying to find a place that would keep her in but she never gives up trying to find a way to escape.

One morning during the week right after my fall on Dandy, Lindsay was feeding horses their breakfast, She discovered Echo had cut her leg. It wasn't a little cut, it made Lindsay's stomach do flips. Lindsay came running in to get me and I knew it was bad just by the color of Lindsay's face. She had turned stark white by the time she 's reached the house.

I followed her back out to the barn to see what had happened and I couldn't believe my eyes. Echo had a gaping hole in the front of her forearm on her right front leg. The flap was shaped more like a rectangle than the usual v shaped flap and extended from the very top of her forearm almost to her knee. The tendons and ligaments were exposed and at first glance looked like they were cut. There were also visible cuts in the raw flesh as well. The bright red of her exposed flesh was glaring in contract to her black coat color.

Looking around the stall trying to figure how in the heck she had received a cut like that in her stall, I discovered a downed piece of sheeting the filly had ripped from the wall. Behind that wall were vertical sheets of aluminum siding that made up the outside wall of the barn. Two of those sheets had been pushed out tearing them loose from the supports they were anchored to. From what we can tell, Echo had tried to create her own escape route by dismantling the siding and crawling through. She apparently got stuck, and backed out into her stall slicing her leg open in the process.

I called my vet on what I knew was his day off and he was here in twenty minutes. He took one look at the wound shaking his head and commented that stuff like this always seems to happen to the really good ones. I agreed.

Echo is an extremely nice filly. I had intended to show her in the Breeder's Sweepstakes Yearling Filly classes at the Regional Championship this year. Now I would be lucky if she survived.

Jack sedated the filly so he could get a good look at the painful wound. The skin hung in one big hunk while the exposed flesh underneath was extremely slashed up. Luckily the tendons and ligaments turned out only to be badly bruised. Many vets would have looked at the severity of the wound and said to put the horse down but not Jack. He knows how I feel about my horses

To be continued....

The picture above is Echo with her mother taken last year at our open house in September.

Part 2


6 comments:

  1. You know... I think I feel really sorry for Lindsay.. I would have stayed calm, called the vet, and then freaked out. (that seems to be my usual pattern for major injuries, collapse after the vet leaves...)

    I'll be back tomorrow to hear the rest of the story. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. That's so sad. Between Barbaro and your blog, I'm learning how fragile these guys are. How terrible that a leg injury can be a death sentence.
    I'll be anxiously awaiting updates.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Poor girl--Hope to here some good news in your next post.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Eeeyowch! I hope things get better soon - it seems like you've had way too much bad luck lately!

    She is a gorgeous filly, that's for sure!

    ReplyDelete
  5. MiKael

    I tried to post a comment earlier on this post but Blogger wouldnt let me for some reason so here I am.

    I am so sorry about this and that Rachel had to find her. I know all about leg injuries and know how concerned you must be. Am sending positive thoughts and prayers your way and will keep checking back for good feedback.

    Chin up, you are really having a time of it. Gosh we must really love these four legged friends of ours to endure everything that they throw our way.

    ((((Hugs)))))

    Lori

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sorry just goes to show how my brain is fried, it was Lindsay who found the filly not Rachel. Boy I must be getting old LOL.

    Lori
    xx

    ReplyDelete