Responses to Nancy's Story

After telling you Nancy's story in our April 9 Thathorse newsletter, kindly Doug and Judith each wrote in to share with us the miraculous survival their horses made after horrific injuries.  These stories are a celebration of how wonderful horses and dedicated owners can overcome the odds of survival.
 
DOUG'S STORY
About 15 years ago my thoroughbred managed to crash into a fence, slicing up through his chest on one side of the breast bone from the front, right through to the elbow area.  He sliced through arteries and veins.  He also stripped one side of his sheath and most of the surrounding groin area so there was a big flap of skin hanging down.
The vet arrived and said the only reason he hadn't bled to death was because he went into such deep shock.  The vet stitched what he could and I'll never forget the hideous sound of air rushing in and out of Joker's chest cavity as we rolled him over for better access.
The next day the stitched groin area was full of fluid so the vet had to come back to put in a drainage hole.  Six weeks later we were almost ready to start gentle inhand work again when some dirt got sucked into one of the holes in groin area and Joker got an infection, which meant he had to go on antibiotics for the first time.  It was another 6 weeks before he was completely well again and back in work.
In latter years we couldn't compete at open pony club, or novice horse trials levels because the scar tissue in his groin would not stretch over the big jumps - which suited me anyway as I was never a very brave jumper.
In his 30 years, Joker only had one other serious injury when he jumped a fence to join his mate and sliced down a front canon so all the tendons and ligaments were exposed.  That took about 5 weeks to heal  and this time we didn't use antibiotics at all. 
It never ceases to amaze me the horrific injuries horses receive, and recover from.  I'm so glad it worked out well for your mare Nancy.
 
JUDITH'S STORY
I bred a little buckskin, beautiful and mischievous, but one afternoon, when he was only 8 weeks old, I am not sure how this happened, but we found him with his face just covered in blood. He had pulled basically his face off from just below his eyes and broken his nose.  Evidently, somehow a gate had been broken, which we think his mother had done and he had put his nose in it and it jack-knifed and he struggled to get free. 
 
We had to float him and his mother to the vet, but we couldn't put a halter on him and had to push him in the float.  It was horrific to do, I think I basically was in shock and just did everything I had to do without really being there.
 
The vet surgeons were great and I must say it took me two days to visit him, it had upset me that much. I expected him to look terrible, but it was unbelievable, how they had put his face back together.  He just had stitches where they had pulled the skin back on just below his eyes, and had wired up his nose.  He looked great and was back to himself very quickly.

I must say I put everything you could think on his face to heal the scars and it must have worked because he is now 6 years old and you can hardly see them. His breathing is louder than normal, but has been scoped and he is fine to do any activities. 

I actually sold him to a close friend when he was a yearling and he has turned out to be a big beautiful boy and is loved and cared for, but I must say the cost of the injuries was a lot - but it's something you do not think of at the time, you just want them well and it was worth it.

See blog: Nancy's Story

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