Poor injured pony, not sure why he was attacked by the horse

maree t

Well-Known Member
Joined
15 September 2010
Messages
1,187
Visit site
We went out to a poor badly bitten pony this morning. he had jumped out and was in the adjoining paddock thank goodness. The two geldings have shared a paddock since we got them both about four months ago. we move the ponies between two fields quite a distance apart and we have to keep one of the other geldings away from our new horse as they fight. My daughters new pony that is very sweet and very quiet in the field was bitten very badly last night by the other horse. We iced the worst swellings and bathed the worst grazes and sprayed him all over pretty much. He must have over 20 bites on his body varying in degrees of severity. The vet prescribed some bute and we managed to get some down him. We bought some arnica and witchhazel gel and applied that this afternoon.
We have moved the pony serveral paddocks over so he is on his own but has two mares beside him. He has settled down and is eating well.
just totally at a loss as to why the horse turned on him like that. They will never be left together in the field but will have to travel together sometimes .
Any thoughts please
 

smanf

Well-Known Member
Joined
10 October 2012
Messages
266
Visit site
Did you see him get attacked? This is a very important consideration and please take note;
Could he have colicked? The other horse may have bitten / kicked him in an attempt to get him back up, it's sometimes what they do. Why would a pony hang around for that long to be bitten so many times...

I arrived one evening at my field and my horse had the most horrendous kick marks all over his bum, inflicted by the mare he had been turned out with for five years. I couldn't understand it. The next day I called the vet as he was very out of sorts. The vet straight away thought outside the box and started treating him for colic / peritonitis etc. within four days he was dead from a strangulated intestine :( (obviously not saying that your pony is going to die, or that it was that serious in his case). The mare had been trying to get my boy back up while he was down, she even went into depression when he died. This is apparently quite a common yet unrecognised thing...

Of course not saying this is what happened, and yes maybe it was a simple attack, but worth bearing in mind...
 

ozpoz

Well-Known Member
Joined
31 August 2010
Messages
2,662
Visit site
Sorry for your pony. I just wanted to say that you should never put arnica on broken skin, so please do check for that before applying.
 

applecart14

Well-Known Member
Joined
12 March 2010
Messages
6,269
Location
Solihull, West Mids
Visit site
Did you see him get attacked? This is a very important consideration and please take note;
Could he have colicked? The other horse may have bitten / kicked him in an attempt to get him back up, it's sometimes what they do. Why would a pony hang around for that long to be bitten so many times...

I arrived one evening at my field and my horse had the most horrendous kick marks all over his bum, inflicted by the mare he had been turned out with for five years. I couldn't understand it. The next day I called the vet as he was very out of sorts. The vet straight away thought outside the box and started treating him for colic / peritonitis etc. within four days he was dead from a strangulated intestine :( (obviously not saying that your pony is going to die, or that it was that serious in his case). The mare had been trying to get my boy back up while he was down, she even went into depression when he died. This is apparently quite a common yet unrecognised thing...

Of course not saying this is what happened, and yes maybe it was a simple attack, but worth bearing in mind...

Gosh, how sad for you. And for the mare that tried to hellp.
 

maree t

Well-Known Member
Joined
15 September 2010
Messages
1,187
Visit site
Thanks, very interesting thoughts. The pony is much better this morning and most of the swelling has gone down. He looks a right state but has been eating throughout and shows no signs of any colic. Would so much damage have been done if it wasnt intentional ?. The pony concerned is a very polite well mannered boy and is usually at the bottom of the pecking order but he is very quick so usually just scoots out of the way. The electric isnt very high thankfully so he did jump out. We are keeping a close eye on the little chap and I think he is enjoying the attention TBH !.

Smanf so sorry to hear about your pony , heartbreaking.

The gel is only going on the swollen bits thanks, purple spary on the grazes , he looks a bit like a leopard .
He seem quite bright and happy this morning so hoping for the best .
 

smanf

Well-Known Member
Joined
10 October 2012
Messages
266
Visit site
Gosh, how sad for you. And for the mare that tried to hellp.

Ah thanks, yes, and what's worse is that for the four days while Lloyd was still at home being treated, everyone was calling her an 'evil witch' because they thought she had caused it. It wasn't until my Mum spoke to an old horsey friend of ours who told her of a pony that used to colic sometimes and would come in with bite marks all over him where his companion had tried to get him back up again that it started to come to light. My horse had never coliced in the twenty years that I owned him so the whole idea seemed preposterous. But when I looked back at the photos of my boys injuries that I had taken, I realied that each shoe print had a single toe clip. The next time I saw Lulu, I looked at her feet and her hind shoes had side clips, so the injuries had been caused by her front foot, not her hind. I have her a big hug and said 'thank you'

Oof, that's brought it all back a bit, that was nearly a year ago.
 

maree t

Well-Known Member
Joined
15 September 2010
Messages
1,187
Visit site
Sorry to have reopened that box. We will keep a very close eye on him anyway. No signs of colic now but you never know. It did take me a while before I spoke to horsey yesterday. He doesnt appear the nasty sort . Cant help but worry about putting him in with any others.
 

Hoof_Prints

Well-Known Member
Joined
4 October 2012
Messages
2,261
Visit site
I have a very sweet pony who I keep on his own at the moment because I have two other very dominant horses (they joined forces because they are both bossy pain in the backsides!) . If turned out together they will kick him and he won't fight back, he will just stand there and get beaten up- they know he won't retaliate. My gelding really does hate him- when he first arrived he looked and acted like he wanted to kill him :eek: However they have travelled together and travel just fine... luckily he gets on with the pony next door who isn't such a bully and he has a friend. Hope pony heals up soon!
 

smanf

Well-Known Member
Joined
10 October 2012
Messages
266
Visit site
Thanks, very interesting thoughts. The pony is much better this morning and most of the swelling has gone down. He looks a right state but has been eating throughout and shows no signs of any colic. Would so much damage have been done if it wasnt intentional ?. The pony concerned is a very polite well mannered boy and is usually at the bottom of the pecking order but he is very quick so usually just scoots out of the way. The electric isnt very high thankfully so he did jump out. We are keeping a close eye on the little chap and I think he is enjoying the attention TBH !.

Smanf so sorry to hear about your pony , heartbreaking.

The gel is only going on the swollen bits thanks, purple spary on the grazes , he looks a bit like a leopard .
He seem quite bright and happy this morning so hoping for the best .

Ah thanks, yes t'was a bit of a blow.

Don't know, like you say, maybe the horse did turn on him, but on the evening that I first found my horse, he seemed ok in himself, just a bit stiff, and he gobbled all his dinner up like normal (greedy sod he was), it was over the following four or five days that the complications became evident. If your boy did colic, maybe he is over it now and back to normal? I don't know how bad his injuries are, they do sound quite extensive.
I was pretty shocked though when I saw these, and thought they looked pretty deliberate, (this picture was taken a day or two after the initial event once they had been treated a bit)...

attachment.php
 
Last edited:

ridefast

Well-Known Member
Joined
21 June 2010
Messages
1,826
Visit site
Going along the lines of the colic thing, when mum got her pony last year it became clear very quickly that she had a few underlying health problems and we think the stress of moving caused them to surface. She had to be turned out alone or only with one of the others for ages, if she was with the other 3 they would all attack her, my mare wouldn't stay with her at all. However this year she's healthy and they all muddle along just fine, it was when she was poorly they wouldn't let her in. My mare on the other hand, got quite poorly over winter with a liver infection and started attacking anyone she was with, even horses she appeared to be close friends with (we weren't at home at that point) So it could be possible that either pony is poorly or one of the others is poorly
 

maree t

Well-Known Member
Joined
15 September 2010
Messages
1,187
Visit site
thanks for all your replies. the pony is looking lots better injury wise today now that most of the swelling has subsided. Thankfully although there are lots of them only a couple are nasty and they are on his neck and shoulder although not as bad as the picture (ouch). There is mainly fur missing on most of the others and a few grazes. He looks like a motheaten old teddy bear !!.
Since your comments we have also noticed that one of the mares in the field next door is charging at him over the fence . She can be a bit of a moo but not normally like this. They were all out together until a few days ago. i will be keeping a very close eye on my little lad and will speak to the vet if things dont improve over the weekend. As I said earlier he is hungry and eating and drinking, pooing as normal and weeing. Hope it is nothing , he is a sweetheart
 
Top