kez1001
Well-Known Member
Yesterday i was having a jumping lesson with my pringy ginger pony, she was amazing, for the very first time literally jumping out her skin and trying so hard, it had finally all clicked. Then disaster struck.
Jumped over a fence and she stopped dead and swung her foreleg up, couldnt see what was wrong at first but jumped off to see a 6 inch nail swinging out the side of her frog
She stood there solid and YO who was teaching sent for help, he then pulled the nail out and it started to bleed profuesly, we hot tubbed it in the arena and walked her to the wash bay, she was very very lame. We cleaned it out and it appeared very small and it looked like only a 1/4 inch of the nail had when in but it had enterered at the side of her frog in the line down the side, cant remember the right word just now we poulticied it but she hobbled down to her stable and still very lame, called the vet and they said they were on their way.
Vet arrived and watched Izzy try to walk around the stable, she was not eating any hay and seemed shocked, he dug out at her foot and said that because of where nail had entered she needed an xray and nerve block and they would then insert a probe then xray the tract the nail had taken threw her foot to see what/if any damage had been done. He said it could have went threw the deep flexor tendon and tocuhed navicular bursa, tears started.
She hobbled up the ramp of YO truck and we made our way to the vets, two vets in attendance on arrival started expoloration of her foot, they couldnt find the hole and i started to feel relieved, it would at worst be a hoof abcess. then vet who seen her arrived and he got the probe in and her foot started to gush blood again, she was so good and stood like an angel, no sedation or anything, everyone admiring how inquisitive and nosey and gorgeous she was. The next xray showed the real bad news: the nail had went much further than we all thought it had went right through her deep flexor tendon and past her navicular bone into the coffin joint, touching the pedal bone too. There were only two choices, a salvage operation the vet said had a 30% chance of her coming out of and only a 5% chance of being sound, he keep saying salvage not fix. She would need an operation to clean the joint and they would go in via the deep flexor tendon and damage to this would probably end up more extensive, she would then need to be in intensive care for weeks to be given intravenous antibiotics and then there would be a high risk of infection at all times, probably a year of box rest and even then probably not sound and 2/10 lame for the rest of her life, shes only 10 it would never be clean and risk of reinfection huge and she could get blood poisoning and go into septic shock. the second option was to put her to sleep, YO asked vet what he recommended and he said if it was his horse he would Put her to sleep.
I asked for some time on my own and held it together while they all left the room, then i hugged her and told her how sorry i was to let this hapen to her and sobbed my heart out to her. She was such a lovely horse and she never deserved it, she has never been an easy beastie but to me she was the worlds best ginger superstar.
The vet came back in after a while and YO too. I told him i didnt want her suffering and i had no option, she would have hated box rest and she loved working, being a field pet would have depressed her.
We left the vets and drove the longest drive ever home, I thought i was coping ok til i seen her stable and i just collapsed, she wasnt there whinning for me and wouldnt be again my life has changed forever and i just feel devastated, she was just becoming the awesome event horse and had never wanted for anything, i went without food before she ever would.I saved her from the end of her racing career and i feel like i have let her down. She was my best friend and helped me cope with everything and i just dont know what to do with myself, i got up this morning and it was like i forgot, i was ready to think time to put izzy out and then i just sobbed, its taken me ages to write this im just hoping it helps me. I wish i could take it all back and watch her gallop across the field this morning and buck and squeal, get mad at her for not standing still while i try to plait her up for event we were going to on saturday and feel how good she was soaring round a xc course. see her annoyed at me for wanting to put her rug on before i turn her out and how she hated coming in but would always canter up to the gate to meet me. she gave me so much and just cant imagine life without her
Jumped over a fence and she stopped dead and swung her foreleg up, couldnt see what was wrong at first but jumped off to see a 6 inch nail swinging out the side of her frog
She stood there solid and YO who was teaching sent for help, he then pulled the nail out and it started to bleed profuesly, we hot tubbed it in the arena and walked her to the wash bay, she was very very lame. We cleaned it out and it appeared very small and it looked like only a 1/4 inch of the nail had when in but it had enterered at the side of her frog in the line down the side, cant remember the right word just now
we poulticied it but she hobbled down to her stable and still very lame, called the vet and they said they were on their way.Vet arrived and watched Izzy try to walk around the stable, she was not eating any hay and seemed shocked, he dug out at her foot and said that because of where nail had entered she needed an xray and nerve block and they would then insert a probe then xray the tract the nail had taken threw her foot to see what/if any damage had been done. He said it could have went threw the deep flexor tendon and tocuhed navicular bursa, tears started.
She hobbled up the ramp of YO truck and we made our way to the vets, two vets in attendance on arrival started expoloration of her foot, they couldnt find the hole and i started to feel relieved, it would at worst be a hoof abcess. then vet who seen her arrived and he got the probe in and her foot started to gush blood again, she was so good and stood like an angel, no sedation or anything, everyone admiring how inquisitive and nosey and gorgeous she was. The next xray showed the real bad news: the nail had went much further than we all thought it had went right through her deep flexor tendon and past her navicular bone into the coffin joint, touching the pedal bone too. There were only two choices, a salvage operation the vet said had a 30% chance of her coming out of and only a 5% chance of being sound, he keep saying salvage not fix. She would need an operation to clean the joint and they would go in via the deep flexor tendon and damage to this would probably end up more extensive, she would then need to be in intensive care for weeks to be given intravenous antibiotics and then there would be a high risk of infection at all times, probably a year of box rest and even then probably not sound and 2/10 lame for the rest of her life, shes only 10
it would never be clean and risk of reinfection huge and she could get blood poisoning and go into septic shock. the second option was to put her to sleep, YO asked vet what he recommended and he said if it was his horse he would Put her to sleep.I asked for some time on my own and held it together while they all left the room, then i hugged her and told her how sorry i was to let this hapen to her and sobbed my heart out to her. She was such a lovely horse and she never deserved it, she has never been an easy beastie but to me she was the worlds best ginger superstar.
The vet came back in after a while and YO too. I told him i didnt want her suffering and i had no option, she would have hated box rest and she loved working, being a field pet would have depressed her.
We left the vets and drove the longest drive ever home, I thought i was coping ok til i seen her stable and i just collapsed, she wasnt there whinning for me and wouldnt be again
my life has changed forever and i just feel devastated, she was just becoming the awesome event horse and had never wanted for anything, i went without food before she ever would.I saved her from the end of her racing career and i feel like i have let her down. She was my best friend and helped me cope with everything and i just dont know what to do with myself, i got up this morning and it was like i forgot, i was ready to think time to put izzy out and then i just sobbed, its taken me ages to write this im just hoping it helps me. I wish i could take it all back and watch her gallop across the field this morning and buck and squeal, get mad at her for not standing still while i try to plait her up for event we were going to on saturday and feel how good she was soaring round a xc course. see her annoyed at me for wanting to put her rug on before i turn her out and how she hated coming in but would always canter up to the gate to meet me. she gave me so much and just cant imagine life without her 
