Injured horse-field swap?? opinions please...

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el_Snowflakes

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Hi guys,

So my beautiful mare came in from the field with a mafor gash to head head and poll area today. The vet was called out & she needed 17 staples, antibiotics and a heck of a lot of bute :(:( The gash was so deep that the vet could actually reveal her skull :(:( tonight she seemed quite chilled but obviuously really sore and a bit shell shocked. The vet made a great job of the staples and hopefully it all heals well. (fingers and toes crossed) anyway, this is not the first time she has come in with an injury- she has had a major kick to the knee and now has a scar and has has various bites and hoof prints on her sides and neck in the past. I feel this is the final straw and i want her in a strip of her own. There are several others who have their own stips ao i approached YO and was told that the strip grazers cannot graze with others as they are known 'trouble makers' and its really only them who are seperated. YO says this is just what horses do (they were understanding tho and listened to my concerns tho, dont get me wrong) and that my horse would be more upset if i seperated her from the herd, however i just feel this is the final straw and i worry constantly over the summer that she will be badly injured (as the mares can be quite volatile when in season) I had shows planned and obviously can now do none of them. Of course my major concern is my horses well being.... what do u think of this? would u be happy to put horse back in with the others???
 
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Personally no. After years of being on yards with mixed grazing and experiencing many serious injuries (to mine and other horses) i am now on a yard with private paddocks it's brill. I wouldn't want to go back to group grazing now. My 2 share a field and there's no constant changing on horses arriving and leaving upsetting the herd and causing problems.

I am afraid I would be looking for another yard as I would be worried about the risk.
 
I think I'd try to find out why my horse was getting into fights in the first place. Is one horse always hounding her, is she fighting her way up through the ranks, is she constantly winding those above her up cos she wants to play etc. Or not enough grass/hay, some passing idiot feeding carrots to them at the fence etc. But no, I wouldn't be happy to leave my horse out to get beaten up regularly. I assume she's been in the same herd long enough for it not to be just settling in probs?
 
She has been in field for almost 2 years so not settling in probs. There are alot of big characters in the field and no clear hierarchy...every day or so it seems to change :( my horse is certainly not at the bottom of the herd. She will move some of the others on but would nevr hurt anyone. She actually normally keeps herself to herself....most of the others have back shoes on - mine doesnt....
 
ps. the grazing is good (too good actually!) and theres plently of room. My horse is 16 and not particularly playful and not 1 to wind others up however she does get silly when in season! dont know if anyone was feeding them. we have signs up but if i ever find anyone feeding carrots they will be getting them up their arses!!! :o
 
No fixed hierarchy might explain it then, although it doesn't give you much of a solution. Unless you can first find out & then remove the troublemaker then sounds like its either move fields or yards.
 
Carrots up arses rather hard to carry out tho? Off topic but as kids we had a local fool who insisted on feeding ours in the field no matter how much we explained not to. My mates dad eventually took a wheelbarrow of muck round to his house & tipped it on the lawn, with the comment 'just fertilizing the grass pal'
 
littlelegs said:
Carrots up arses rather hard to carry out tho? Off topic but as kids we had a local fool who insisted on feeding ours in the field no matter how much we explained not to. My mates dad eventually took a wheelbarrow of muck round to his house & tipped it on the lawn, with the comment 'just fertilizing the grass pal'
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i like that one! will keep it in mind ;)
 
As long as wounds won't be rubbed by tack here is no reason you can't compete with her. Have often had clients race and win within days of large head wounds - not hard to get down to skull as there is minimal flesh on the head!
 
glenruby said:
As long as wounds won't be rubbed by tack here is no reason you can't compete with her. Have often had clients race and win within days of large head wounds - not hard to get down to skull as there is minimal flesh on the head!
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There is no way I would put a bridle on a horse who has 17 stables in her head/poll area and is on bute and antibiotics????! :(
 
Poor soul - sounds like mine lol i would move her god forbid something more serious happened can she not be paired up with a quiet horse in a strip? Hope she gets better soon
 
I have a few liveries and injuries like this can happen but are often avoidable by giving thought to turnout groups, I would be mortified if any horse on my yard suffered from several incidents and then a major injury like this, next time could be worse.
I would look at changing the whole place around to get a better balance within each group, an experienced YO should be able to take out the trouble makers easily enough and still have group turnout especially if there is plenty of grass, if they will not let you move your mare I would move yards.
 
Have you had a look in the field for a stone, a large stone that is rather sharp? Could she has been itching her face and caught it on a stone, or rolling even?

When you say gash to the head, my first though is she has rolled and thrown her head about and caught it. So not necessarily from fighting?
 
EmmasMummy said:
Have you had a look in the field for a stone, a large stone that is rather sharp? Could she has been itching her face and caught it on a stone, or rolling even?

When you say gash to the head, my first though is she has rolled and thrown her head about and caught it. So not necessarily from fighting?
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No, its very much a hoof shaped gash :(
 
Yard owner would be responsible for any future injuries to your horse as she has refused to move her even though she has been repeatably injured and you have quite reasonably requested it. Last time a horse was kicked on my yard I was there and immediately changed the fields around so it didn't happen again!
 
Agree with the others, the occupants of that field need to be managed differently, there are trouble makers are still out there. You seem to have an unusually high number of troublemakers so this would suggest there is something else wrong as well - no grass? field too small?

I would not put my horse back out in that field end of - I would count this latest injury as the final warning. Has anyone seen any of the punch ups to know what goes on?

Poor girl, I hope she makes a speedy recovery. She will certainly need strip grazing whilst she recovers, so you might get it by stealth, if not then move her.
 
what do u think of this? would u be happy to put horse back in with the others???
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Most definitely not. In fact the horse would have been out of there a long time ago if she is constantly receiving the sort of (albeit some minor) injuries that she's had. And this injury could have been her last - it quite simply could have killed her (I'm amazed it didn't.....)

Time to look for another yard I suspect.
 
Personally I would not put her back out there. Having been in the situation you are – mine got kicked and ended up with a fractured elbow. I can honestly say that he will never go out with anyone else ever again. He will be close enough to see them and talk to them but will not be allowed to have contact.

We are lucky, my boy is coming through it but I will never put him in the situation again for him to get hurt.
 
My pony was injured going through some ramshackle fencing at a little farm where I had him on livery - his legs were cut from top to bottom and I don't know how we got away without any scars. We offered to pay for post and rail fencing - my husband even offered to put it up as the farmer was saying that it would be hard work with the rocky ground but, although they were nice people, they didn't seem to understand our concerns. My pony was bad enough and it could have been much worse so we moved as it was odds on that it was another accident waiting to happen if we'd stayed there.

What has happened to your horse sounds horrendous and well beyond what you'd expect as just a bit of ususal field squabbling. I couldn't rest after what happened to mine and I suspect you'll be the same now - I'd say get out if you can.
 
Its right to persevere with group turnout especially with new horses into a herd but sometimes there is a point where you know the next kick might be the last and that it isnt settling down and isnt going to.

My filly was in a field of mares and it just didnt work as she had always been with her dam before coming to me and she didnt understand the 'go away' messages the other mares gave her, she just persisted trying to be friendly and they would boot her into the middle of next week.

After a series of injuries, the last quite nasty to her knee, ruling out her in hand showing for the season and leaving her scarred for life, I put my foot down and said she couldnt go back in the field. YO said I was cruel, but I felt it was crueller to leave her and as there was only one mares summer paddock there was no option of regrouping.

I split my geldings paddock into 2 and have always made sure she can touch and groom other horses. Now she is kept at home and my big chap is a territorial so and so who cant share anyway and they are both very happy grooming but feeling unthreatened.
 
Thanks so much for all your replies :) reading your comments has made me come to the conclusion that I need to trust my instincts. Iv persevered & it hadn't paid off. I feel that although I will be truelly sad to keep her away from the main herd ( as I love nothing more than to see them running freely together) but I need to weigh up the consequences. My YO said they understand & that it's a bit like when kids fall & hurt themselves & you want to Molly coddle them. However I would argue that if someone beat up your child several times to their serious injury you certainly would not allow the kids alone in the playground together! Ok Im dedo standing my ground now ;)
 
elsazzo said:
My YO said they understand & that it's a bit like when kids fall & hurt themselves & you want to Molly coddle them. However I would argue that if someone beat up your child several times to their serious injury you certainly would not allow the kids alone in the playground together! Ok Im dedo standing my ground now ;)
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How wrong your YO is......
 
For the same reasons, horse kept getting kicked and injured, I am on a yard with individual turnout now. I didn't want my horse injured and covered in bite marks all the time. Not to mention the vets bills to patch him up. Whilst I was still at the yard where it happened I bought some fencing and made him his own little section.
 
If it was a one of, fine. No big deal, these things happen. But it isn't. And you're having to pick up the bills repeatedly. I wouldn't be ok with that. Horses are horses but there comes a point where you have to draw the line. Why does she have to be totally on her own. Can't her and one of the other mares she gets on with be grazed together? I think sometimes a pair can work really well.
 
amymay said:
How wrong your YO is......
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I agree. Im so lucky it wasnt a few inches lower or it could have been her eye...i cant even bare to think about it. By no means am i over protective. Im not one of those folk who dont want horses in fields incase they get injured (know a few of those) but at the same time- if something was to happen again-albeit more serious i could not live with myself....:(
 
Am with the majority. Minor bangs and bumps do happen, but if it's repeated incidents I would be moving fields. My boys are in different fields now as roo holds his own with the 'big boys' and J doesn't!
 
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