War Horse: I Thought I Might Lose Him

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

I Thought I Might Lose Him

I got a call from the barn owner on Tuesday afternoon...every boarder knows that an unrequested phone call from the barn almost always means something bad happened to your horse. Basically, this happened:

- Soon was out in a smaller paddock behind the barn, not his usual big field, and got caught in the electrical cord fencing
- We don't know how long he was down, but barn staff heard him screaming and found him laying stoically in the mud, waiting for someone to free him
- (HE LAID STILL IN THE MUD WHILE THE HOT WIRE WAS WRAPPED AROUND HIS LEG AND PATIENTLY WAITED FOR SOMEONE TO HELP HIM...most rational horse ever)
- Was initially non-weight bearing on the leg

So I left work (many thanks to my awesome boss who is a horse husband and understands the nature of horse emergencies), called the vet, and rushed to the barn. On my way I skipped all levels of rationality and went straight to Worst Case Scenario. I was worried he could have broken something, or sliced soft tissue, or was bleeding profusely, or was in shock. I think I was probably most worried about him being in shock, actually. I was trying to mentally prepare myself for some of the worse scenarios in horse ownership and I was a real wreck in the car. I got my game face on when I arrived though.

I got to the barn and found him in a stall, eating hay, bearing weight on the leg and looking a little worse for wear, but generally ok. His vital signs were within normal limits, and his gut sounds were good. He did have a good laceration on his right hind in front of the hock and was very painful in that area. I asked the vet before she arrived if I should go ahead and hit him with 10cc of Banamine to help the pain; she agreed, so I gave him his IV painkillers and started to rinse the mud from the wound. We x-rayed the joint and the vet did not see any damage from the wound. She scrubbed him up well, wrapped it, and I'll clean and rewrap every day until Sunday and see what we have on Monday morning when the vet returns.

13 Jan 15

He's terribly sore from the ordeal and the leg obviously hurts like hell, but he is his normal cheerful self, has a good appetite and is drinking well, and is using the leg just fine, albeit lame. I looked at it today, it looked like it was starting to heal well, so hopefully we're on the right track. He's also not as swollen as I thought he might be. I am very concerned about infection with the hock joint being right there, so I'm cold hosing and cleaning it like a crazy person every day. He's good on his tetanus booster and is on SMZs for the next 10 days, so fingers crossed this is the worst of it!