The Horse's Injury..........mmmm, Injuries!

Trying to get ready for the Region 4 All Arabian Championships there's been a lot to do. There's been no time to take a break to deal with the aftermath of this accident. It was only because Richard had company from out of town that I didn't miss any "scheduled" work time getting horses schooled for the big event.

Thursday's plan was to ride horses after Richard returned from taking his guests to the airport. We got our wires crossed so I arrived at noon instead of at the 9 am he'd hoped for. When I left here, everything was fine. When I returned............not so much..........

Having my nose broken just couldn't be enough to push the limits on an already stressful week. As I came to the back of the horse trailer to begin unloading, Dave was frantically trying to tell me something about my colt........the very colt that broke my nose the day before...............the same colt that is supposed to some on Friday night in the AHA Sweepstakes Breeding Entry Colts class.

I rushed to his stall to find the horse with a maybe six inch gash in his neck. He'd managed to find a nail and used it to scratch himself.........the only problem was that nail ripped this ugly swatch out of his neck.

Instead of heading back to Richard's to pick up Louie, I loaded up the colt and headed for the vet's. Lucky for me, he was there and had time to "sew" this colt up.

I've said all along........this colt is a hot thing! I don't say that lightly. He's about as hot as I've ever seen. He has a good mind and can be trained to deal with things..........but new things............well............they're tough.

The vet thought he was going to sew that wound up right there in the sunlight. Granted the light was great, but I just didn't see this colt standing there to get the wound numbed up enough to work on. I figured we'd just put him in the palpation chute and deal with him there. He'd managed to deal with that whole situation when he'd needed his teeth floated.

But wouldn't you know, another day............another horse............and the horse is bigger now.....................that chute just didn't look that confining to him. The vet stuck the needle into the horse's vein and the colt responded by going straight up into the air.........then the horse leapt over the gate on the chute.

The horse's back legs got hooked on that gate and he came crashing to the floor. The colt landed right on his nose with his left stifle stuck on the top of that palpation chute gate. We all scattered as the horse trashed wildly trying to flee.

Before I could figure a way to help the horse he managed to free himself. The horse pooped up immediately trying to escape but I managed to grab him and get him under control. When the horse finally stopped in front of me the needle was still dangling from where it was lodged in his vein.

I pointed that fact out to the vet and he quickly took advantage of the situation injecting the sedation. After all the adrenaline of this latest wreck a second dose was needed to even begin the work of dealing with the horse's neck.

While we waited for him to come down, we checked the horse over thoroughly for damage from his escape. We got off lucky. There were no broken bones........only superficial wounds.

The horse cut his upper gums. They were bleeding quite profusely. He also cut a small "V" into his lower lip which was also producing its share of blood. There was a patch of hide gone over his left knee. His right hind leg had a couple of strips of hide gone that ran down the canon bone. The left leg had an assortment of smaller cuts, some longer stripes of missing hide on the cannon bone and some random patches of missing hair.

By the time the vet was finished, the colt had 20 staples in his neck. There were a half dozen stitches in his lower lip and the rest would be treated with topical antibacterial ointment.

The real trick in all of this is giving the little bugger his antibiotics. He's toatlly turned into Mr Hyde. It take twitching him to even get a syringe into his mouth...........and grabbing his nose is a trick in itself.

He's equally naughty about having the hot packs on his neck wound. Although once the warm compress is in place it is obvious that it feels better.

Last night when I applied the first warm towels, the wound was already swollen and gross. By morning, most of the swelling had gone down. Despite the horse's reluctance to be treated..........the wound is responding really well. By this evening the area is totally flat.

It is obvious the colt is sore from his assault on the palpation chute. I lounged him this morning, and while he was not lame, he was definitely not quite for himself. Normally, he is bouncing around, striking at the ground and tossing his head............today he just went around in circles......it was actually kind of nice for a change.

So today we were off for Region 4. We're quite a pair the two of us. I'd really like to be sleeping for about a week to let this head of mine rest but the horse show is calling..........by the time you read this, I'll be in Salem and hopefully getting ready to hit the sack in my tent.

There will be posts while I am gone. I got all the horses's stuff packed and laundry done.........and forgot to do my own. So while I'm sitting up waiting for MY laundry to get finished, I'm going to schedule posts to carry through until I get back home.

Wish us luck!



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