More Life Lessons - an Arabian Filly Injured Part 2

Part one

Even though the wound was severe Jack proceeded to clean up the wound, put in stitches, staples and a drain. The whole time I wrestled with the filly. The first shot he gave her knocked the horse so hard she didn't want to stand up even though he had given her half the dose for a horse her size. I had problems keeping the Arabian horse on her feet. She kept stumbling into me, knocking me forward.

Then he gave her a counter agent to lessen the effect of the sedation. The Arabian horse squirmed and fidgeted. Not that I can say I blame her, the injury was obviously very painful. But her moving about only made cleaning it up and the repair work more difficult. Not to mention I was beginning to feel like I was wrestling an elephant instead of holding a horse.

Towards the end of the process, I put my thumb up along the inside of the filly's cheek, rubbing the lining of her mouth to distract her from her discomfort. (A trick I had learned from my farrier) It worked pretty well until I brushed against a sharp edge of a tooth and instinctively checked the sharpness of her teeth. The filly reacting to the rubbing of her inner cheek chomped down on my thumb. The resulting crunch was loud enough Lindsay heard it a few feet away.

I was immediately doubled over in pain and saw stars from the assault on my thumb. I tried to continue to hold the filly for Jack as he finished stitching up Echo's leg but was unable to do so. All the color drained from my face and my stomach began to flip. I had to go over and lay down in the shavings bin or I would have passed out.

What I hadn't realized going into this was that I had been experiencing shock from the riding accident. I hadn't gone to the doctor, just gotten a couple of massages assuming I was fine. The fact that I had been having problems with getting disoriented and staying warm among other things had not entered my mind as being symptoms of shock. I just chalked it up to a weather change (there was none) and old age.

The trauma to my finger was just enough to push me back over the edge deeper into shock.. My body temperature plummeted. I began shaking uncontrollably and my head was spinning. I did manage to hang out at the barn while Jack finished with the filly so I could get instructions for her care. It was Jack who realized that I was going into shock and gave me instructions for my care as well.

Jack finished with the filly as I lay quietly near following the vet's orders. Most of the horse's wound was covered with skin when the stitching was complete. That was definitely a lucky break. Between that and the fact the wound was fresh made the possibility of the stitches holding all the more likely. If we could get this healed up without complications, we would have a good chance of saving the filly. Time would tell how both the horse and the owner would recover from their injuries.

To be continued............

Part Three


Arabian horse arabian horses horses horse Horse Accident