RIP Peg - horse kicked and got its leg broken - and a question

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BSJAlove said:
if a horse has plenty of space and food and water, its still going to interact with the other horses. that means playing which often results in lots of injuries let alone fighting. if theres more then one in a field. expect injuries. RIP peg :(
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Ah, that's a bit of a grim outlook isn't it? I understand how you feel, bit it's not really that bad having more than one horse in a field.
 
Tinypony said:
Ah, that's a bit of a grim outlook isn't it? I understand how you feel, bit it's not really that bad having more than one horse in a field.
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it is but it happens. my boys are out together and touch wood, no injuries as of yet. but i know the risk of putting them in together, im never going to stop them 'horsing' around unless i split them up but they love being out together and grooming and playing.
 
Tbh i would put it down to an unfortunate accident, these things happen. My gelding broke his pastern whilst turned out with the usual herd of geldings last Sept. We suspect it was either a slip whilst hooning about or a kick, i personally believe it was a kick. He had been with this herd of geldings for 3 years. It is very shocking and upsetting but these things do happen. Unless you seen the incident happen you cant know for sure what actually happened, iv found that storys get turned into chinese whispers and theres a new story every day :rolleyes:
 
My horse got kicked by another horse in a 20 acre field about 3-4 years ago now and fractured his radius. All the herd had been together for ages and we still don't know which horse it was. There were only about 6 horses out in there at the time. However my horse would be devastated if he wasn't part of a herd. He wouldn't cope with individual turnout. So he lives as part of a herd (albeit a different yard now) and although I would be devastated if something happened, I do think that it is something that happens occasionally, although any horses which are deliberately aggressive should definitely be removed.
 
Oh sorry to hear this how very sad..

unfortuantely injuries like this can happen any time and thinking about it even with settled horses its suprising it doesnt happen more often. My gelding was lucky last year when he got kicked in the back end by a horse he has known lived with for years without any problems. Nasty gash and stiffness but it could have been a lot worse. We were there and she just went for him. Fur flying the lot!

What a sad thing to happen RIP .
 
Poor Peg, how sad
My horse is very playful and was always getting injured at my last yard which had too many horses in the field. I was lucky to move to a private yard where he was turned out with 3 other horses in a massive field with excellent grazing and all was well for a couple of years although he did play rough woth his best mate. I went up one night and he was on 3 legs, sweating badly and had a fractured Radius. His friend was still trying to play with him. It was awful but luckily he recovered.
Sadly however we try to keep our horses safe, accidents can happen. I agree probably more so on livery yards where new horses are coming and going.
 
:( poooor peg


i must say some people in here have no heart and spit venom allot


one friend lost her horse this way a yard near me never isolates new ones straight out in the group her horse kicked broke her leg 6 more have had this done since yo put animal notorious of kicking out with hers

diamond shattered splint bone 19 pieces same reason we now separate all new ones reduces injury from being serious

if any horse shows real aggression towards others or repeated offenses they are told to leave.


separation greatly reduces injury

i would rec to anyone looking for livery check to see if they separate horses before introducing them to the yard its not worth the risk.

poor peg had to find this out hard way

over crowding is not good but if horses get on and introduced it can work.

Yes horses are animals kicking does occur but not normally this scale unless someone has failed in the proper process of introduction or removing the offender
 
Sleep well Peg - and my deepest condolences to her owner. Heartbreaking and I do believe largely avoidable with a bit of thought and effort. Perhaps not in this case but who can really say.

None of mine go out together, in the same field, but they graze in adjacent paddocks. I figure, and am happy to live with the outcome of this, that keeping a fence between them is still marginally safer than combined turnout.

I have known catastrophic kicks happen between pair-bonds and also relative strangers, through high jinks and pecking order sort-outs, one in a million situations and in huge open spaces. And I never forget that accidents happen no matter what you do to prevent them.
 
Accidents and fights do happen. However, I've been around horses out in groups in fields (mares, geldings, mixed and not) since... a very long time anyway!! They don't routinely damage each other. For me personally, I would rather run the slight risk of allowing my horses to be out in company than keep them alone.
If a group of horses are constantly fighting or damaging each other then the likelihood is that the group is mis-matched, too large or do not have enough space.

I've had a read back over some other posts. It's interesting to hear others experiences, and sometimes very sad. I would say that one incident shouldn't be a reason to condemn a horse to solitary for the rest of it's life. I had two mares and a gelding in a field, they had been together for some years. Luckily I was there with two friends when suddenly for no reason - ie no reason I could understand but probably a perfectly good reason from the horse perspective - my two mares were back to back double barrelling each other and screeching like dinosaurs. I'd never seen anything like it. I really couldn't work out who had started it, I suppose on many livery yards the one that didn't get injured would have been labelled the culprit. Anyway, friends and I had to beat them apart with ropes. My pony mare kept coming back for more, it was terrifying. I took one out and kept her on the yard for an hour or so. In the end I could only put her back though. Because... combination of horse things. One mare would run through fences to get back with others if left alone. Gelding was a rehab case who was currently going mad when anything was taken out of the field (so he was almost at the point of collapse by then). I put her back... nothing happened. I stayed for as long as I could. Nothing. I think I can safely say they never did it again, because if they had there would surely have been physical evidence. We just don't fully understand what makes horses tick, and I think sometimes there is a tendency to view their behaviour in more human terms, and even dole out punishment influenced by that.

No criticism of anyone here, we all do what we need to do and what we feel is best. Just observations.
"i must say some people in here have no heart and spit venom allot" - I must have missed something on this thread?
 
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"covered in blood"? I'm not denying for a moment the mare was kicked but...this sounds a bit sensationalist? How and where, exactly?
 
RIP Peg and my thoughts to all concerned so so sad but sadly horses are animals and not machines and everyday we turn them out we face this but would you rather wrap in cotton wool and not let them be the animals we love - in anything - horses, driving, even walking down the road there is a risk - i say- even with my half blind lass - let them be horses(ok ok before anyone says a notably bad aggresive horse should be removed( jesus have to watch what you say on here nowadays)) but with most let them sort them selves out and they do and yep mine have had knocks bumps and cuts lol
 
Tiny here here - a horse is herd animal and ffs they have tussels - may i say the day my vet says my lass needs to come out of herd is day i say bye bye - they are by nature a herd animal let them live like that not alone - and my tart of lass is in a mixed herd and as for last 5 yrs - give them a chance to be horses and do you know sit watch and enjoy the interaction its brill :) xxx
 
skewby said:
"covered in blood"? I'm not denying for a moment the mare was kicked but...this sounds a bit sensationalist? How and where, exactly?
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Why cross-question about that? Anyway, as said before, if an artery was severed of course there would be a lot of blood. Having turned up on a yard just after a horrible kick injury I can vouch for the fact that one kick can cause a huge amount of blood. :-(

Setting aside the ethics when we keep herd animals, I've regularly been around horses in mixed groups in fields since I was a teenager and they simply don't constantly injure each other if the conditions they are kept in are right.
 
I think horses interacting is a huge part of natural behaviour, ideally with sufficient space, food, shoes removed etc to minimise risks.

What does concern me is the separation of youngsters, yes they may play roughly but youngsters learn a huge amount from other horses and how to behave and respect anothers space. You just have to look at the issues some hand reared foals have with respecting other horses and people, I see turning out in a group as part of a youngsters education.
 
I see it as tragic accident.
Just one of those things.

Yes lack of food, space etc can cause problems.
But even in a happy herd accident happen.

Our boys have a big field, for a big herd.
They all get on fine.
But sadly a couple of years a go one of them was kicked and had to be put to sleep.
I didnt remove my boys as it was just one of those things.

They are all happy together now.
 
Unless you have individual turnout - then it will always be a risk.

However unless you wish to keep your horse segregated for life, it's a risk worth taking (unless obviously it's turned out with a well known kicker....)

However, you do say that the horse that was kicked was new - so it may well be that introductions were a bit hasty.

I'm also not sure why you are apoplectic? Is there a history of horses being kicked, badly managed in the fields etc.? If there were, I imagine you would have left a long time ago.

When you take your horse, will you be turning out alone from now on??
 
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Well C was kicked when she moved in - ok that happens. Then she came in with what could have been a kick again - but nothing proven just a swelling... yesterday horse has its leg broken and C has been kicked again. I'm apoplectic mainly because I have never been on a yard where my horse has been kicked so much and I have been at most of the big yards in the area and not had my horse get kicked maybe 3 times in 7/8 weeks. I don't have any history and the yard is a good one so not sure what has happened previously, but I am going to take all neccessary precautions to keep her safe from now on as I feel now that ultimate responsibility lies with the owner. Which will mean her being at home with plenty of grass, plenty of space, turnout perhaps individually or most likely with two small companions with no shoes and no strange horses in and out of the yard. And proper long introductions. Thats the only way in which I feel I can minimise the risk to my horse and at very least in the event of a horrendous accident - know I have done everything to minimise the risks to her.
 
I'm apoplectic mainly because I have never been on a yard where my horse has been kicked so much
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Ah, well that's entirely different. And I can understand you not wanting to turn her out with the same group of horses.

Has the 'kicker' been identified?? It's usually very easy to do.
 
Well the yard owner seems to think he knows who did it from the blood on the hindquarters however this is by no means a fail safe way of identifying. I wasn't actually on the yard myself - this was recounted to me by my other half.
 
Years ago I knew two mares who were grazing companions and always next to each other. The young pony mare was a bit of a pain and would needle and goad at times, and one day the older larger mare (unshod) obviously decided enough was enough and kicked the pony and broke her back leg and she bled out almost to death before she was found and finished by the vet. The larger mare had blood spray all over her hind legs so there was no doubt who had done it, but she certainly wasn't an aggressive horse and had never been seen to even raise a leg, let alone kick.
 
What Amymay said. I would never want to keep a horse on individual turnout- my personal preference.

Sound like introductions were not carefully thought out in this instance though.
 
How sad :( Unfortunately though I would put it down to horses being horses. I have 2 horses that are in their own paddock, there is enough grass for both of them, they are both stabled next door to each other with bars in between so they can see each other, they are turned out and come in together, but they still come in with injuries. One minute they are best mates sharing the same blade of grass next they are coming in with bite and kick marks :(
 
I am still not clear how this started. Was a new horse put straight out with the herd without a period next to them for introduction? If that is the case, regardless of whether or not it is known which horse delivered the fatal kick, I would not consider that to be the fault of the horse.

There may be regular kickings because there is a horse in the field that just does that.
What is more likely is that:
The herd is too big (not for the field, just too big for that group of horses).
The field is too small.
There isn't enough in the field to eat.
New horses are just thrown in cold.
The herd is regularly changing, meaning that the herd dynamics are constantly being changed.

Sorry Op, but I'm still not sure if any of the above applies. I do think that some human perception and blame is being attached to one individual horse though, when it is most likely that a few of them had a bundle and one sadly came out of it badly.
 
It happens. My horse was kicked and fractured a leg on the third day at a new yard turned out with one other horse in a perfectly safe field after two previous days grazing happily together.
 
Havent read all replies

but yes horses will be horses but we can reduce the risk by small group turnout or individual.

My horse is on individual turnout for this reason.
 
Of course it happens, what I am saying is that, managed correctly, it doesn't happen as much as some seem to think. Fatal injuries are thankfully not common. Think of all the horses in all the fields out together as compared to the number of serious injuries that occur.
 
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