Life...........An Arabian Filly Injured.......Again!

It was a long day today starting off at the gym at 5 AM and then beginning to work horses at 7:30. I barely had time to feed the herd and eat a bowl of oatmeal before loading up and heading off to Richard's.

It was Richard's birthday today and he had plans so he wanted to be done with all the horses by noon. Packing things into that kind of a schedule when I'm just getting back to work really wore me out.

By the time I got home from my third trip, I was exhausted. I really wanted to sit down in the chair and nap......well, maybe sleep for the rest of the day and through the night would be more like it. But life did its thing in the form of dear Echo going through a fence.


I don't know what it is with this filly. She seems to have this thing about wanting to be someplace other than where she is. She's the same horse that I wrote about in More Life Lessons - an Arabian Filly Injured where she was hurt trying to make her own way out of her stall when she was a yearling.

Now she is a three year old and this would be her second fence in a month. The first one she didn't get hurt but the second time we weren't so lucky. She not only tore the fence down but cut open her leg. She has a 2 1/2 inch gash on the inside of her left leg on the high part of the knee. There in lies the problem.

This filly is NOT a good patient. For that previous injury, even drugged she was next to impossible to treat. Not only that but she so trashed her wound that she not only killed off all the tissue we were trying to save but she damaged underlying muscle as well. It was months before the wound finally healed and we were only able to accomplish that by modifying a shin guard to protect the wound from her.

Considering her track record, I've decided not to have this wound stitched. Even though I would have the vet close this wound up on any other horse, I'm afraid with Echo that's not a wise move. I'd spend hundreds of dollars (like last time) only to have her trash this injury as well. There's no point in doing it if she won't leave it alone.

Considering this location not far off from the first one, I'm thinking the odds are not good that she might leave the wound alone. Heck, the horse didn't want to co-operate to even let me look at the damage. It was clear from her actions, she probably hasn't changed.

I'm hoping by leaving it open and cleaning it every day, I can end up with a better result that with medical intervention. Without stitches and a dressing, I'm hoping she won't be irritated and maybe she'll leave the wound alone.

I cleaned the wound and began treating her with SMZ's to ward off infection. I'll clean the wound a couple of times a day and probably flush with a weak betadine solution. That should cause the wound to heal from the inside out. Maybe we'll get lucky and get hair growth and little scarring.

Cross your fingers and hope that Echo's sees fit to co-operate with this treatment plan. I already know she's not going to be happy about the stall rest. I'm going to hang some toys to see they'll help keep her occupied. Also, as this progresses, I'll take pictures IF she'll let me. Her dark color and the location of the wound may cause problems with getting a good shot. However, I think my biggest problem is going to be Echo. The rest of the time she is just the sweetest filly but she sure hates being a patient.

In this picture you can see the scarring on her right front leg from the first injury.

Tomorrow, I'll be back to my regular programming provided Life doesn't smack me again. In the meantime I'm still accepting submission for the blog carnival until tomorrow evening. If the blogcarnival submission form won't work. Please email the link directly to me to be included. (see my profile for email)



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