Warning: my horse got trapped on a gate last night

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coen

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This is a little warning for anyone who lunges or freeschools.

I took my horse to the arena last night to stretch his legs I was going to lunge off of a headcollar as normal.
He took off around the school bucking and it looked as though he couldn't pull up in time for the gate so at the lat minute decided to jump it but only his front legs made it over so he was trapped on top of this huge wooden gate that would not break.
I have never seen anything more horrific he was thrashing trying to free himself and the noises he was making from the pain were terrible.
Luckily a workman lives on site so managed to unhinge the top of the gate while another livery helped which meant he was able to scramble free.

The emergency vet came out and sedated him, gave him injections of bute and antibiotics and cleaned up all the cuts and grazes around his stifle, hopefully nothing sinister has happened to the joints as he was still trying to kick the vet and apparently he wouldn't have been as mobile if he had done more damage.
Even so the swelling is likely to be horrendous and I need the vet out again today to monitor him. I am dreading seeing how sore he is today.

Just wish I had ridden or kept hold of him....they really are the silliest creatures.
 
coen said:
This is a little warning for anyone who lunges or freeschools.

I took my horse to the arena last night to stretch his legs I was going to lunge off of a headcollar as normal.
He took off around the school bucking and it looked as though he couldn't pull up in time for the gate so at the lat minute decided to jump it but only his front legs made it over so he was trapped on top of this huge wooden gate that would not break.
I have never seen anything more horrific he was thrashing trying to free himself and the noises he was making from the pain were terrible.
Luckily a workman lives on site so managed to unhinge the top of the gate while another livery helped which meant he was able to scramble free.

The emergency vet came out and sedated him, gave him injections of bute and antibiotics and cleaned up all the cuts and grazes around his stifle, hopefully nothing sinister has happened to the joints as he was still trying to kick the vet and apparently he wouldn't have been as mobile if he had done more damage.
Even so the swelling is likely to be horrendous and I need the vet out again today to monitor him. I am dreading seeing how sore he is today.

Just wish I had ridden or kept hold of him....they really are the silliest creatures.
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Dont be hard on yourself these things happen, exactly the same thing happened too me except I was riding! I opened the gate but he was impatient too stand and wouldnt allow me to finish opening it far enough, as a result he squeezed through the gap bring the gate with him, so he had his front legs in front of gate and back legs behind, that was horrible, its one thing watching it, being on him while he thrashes about, it was a wonder I wasnt seriousley hurt!

He will probably know not too do it again, dont be so hard on yourself!:rolleyes:
 
Don't beat yourself up. My silly mare did this over her stable door. They really will get themselves in a pickle any which way!

Hope he's feeling better soon :)
 
Oh no how did you manage to get out of the way? Well thank god I wasn't riding then.

The stable door...wow they really aren't safe anywhere.

Were either of the horse seriously injured? How long did they take to recover.
 
coen said:
Oh no how did you manage to get out of the way? Well thank god I wasn't riding then.

The stable door...wow they really aren't safe anywhere.

Were either of the horse seriously injured? How long did they take to recover.
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My girl was fine in a couple of weeks. She had IV antibiotics for a few days and trim for a week as she had several cuts round her stifles and we were playing it safe but she went out in the field the day after she did it (wasn't leaving her in again after that!)

Basically she was just a bit banged up and stiff but 2 weeks later completely back to normal :)

I should try and find a photo of the door after she had totally obliterated it. The vet was amazed she was alive after seeing the door!
 
We tried but the gate is huge and was basically trapped inbetween his stifle and gut so there was no way for him to go forward or back. Thank god the guy was around to undo the bolts on the gate as the longer he was on there the worse it was getting.

Interesting to see this isn't really that rare an occurence. Gives me reassurance that he will get over it at the least.
 
coen said:
Oh no how did you manage to get out of the way? Well thank god I wasn't riding then.

The stable door...wow they really aren't safe anywhere.

Were either of the horse seriously injured? How long did they take to recover.
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I dont really know how but my boy was perfectly fine! He has cut pulled some skin of his leg and a bit bruised, but was only lame for about 3-4 days then was perfectly fine (after having a few days off, I decided to ride him in field with no martingale, he showed me he was fine by bolting off too other end of field in amusement!)

Little bit of surgical scrub to help heal the superficial things, but other than that just bruising. Dont stop exercising how you normally would, i would also confront the gate asap, as now my poor boy has an issue with gates and rushes through them.
 
jesstickle said:
My girl was fine in a couple of weeks. She had IV antibiotics for a few days and trim for a week as she had several cuts round her stifles and we were playing it safe but she went out in the field the day after she did it (wasn't leaving her in again after that!)

Basically she was just a bit banged up and stiff but 2 weeks later completely back to normal :)

I should try and find a photo of the door after she had totally obliterated it. The vet was amazed she was alive after seeing the door!
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Yes do send it through.
That is increbile. Well i am reluctant to have him on box rest as he doesn't cope well with it so will be getting him out tomorrow for a bit. The vet last night advised I keep him in today until my vet has been to see him.
Why did your mare attempt to jump the door? How did you free her?
 
Omarkiam said:
I dont really know how but my boy was perfectly fine! He has cut pulled some skin of his leg and a bit bruised, but was only lame for about 3-4 days then was perfectly fine (after having a few days off, I decided to ride him in field with no martingale, he showed me he was fine by bolting off too other end of field in amusement!)

Little bit of surgical scrub to help heal the superficial things, but other than that just bruising. Dont stop exercising how you normally would, i would also confront the gate asap, as now my poor boy has an issue with gates and rushes through them.
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I will try to keep him ticking over and occupied at least as he goes crazy with a day or two off at the best of times.
Ha your horse obviously wasn't feeling any after effects.

That is the worry, hopefully he wont be petrified of jumping from now on.
 
I had a horse do that in the back of the lorry!! She was tied on it after hunting with haynet. Cone back to find half a horse over the top of the partition.... Still tied! So had to clear the way undo lead rope n let her continue over.... Horrid to watch! And snapped the partition!

Horses get injured all the time I doubt it's your fault at all!
 
ur horse will probably be quite sore for a few days - mine was very reluctant to move and was very swollen when he caught his leg on fencing. I think I have some pics somewhere.
mine was off for 2 weeks - staples came out after 10 days - and was only on antibiotics so any infection would show quickly. when he didnt want to move for a treat, I insisted he get bute.
hope ur horse is ok
 
Absolutely daft animals. I am heading out to see the vet soon so fingers crossed the prognosis is good.
 
Ouch! That's a reason I was so worried about my old horse fence jumping. In all fairness to him, he always cleared the 5bar by miles, but eventually he'd get old and less able and i did imagine he'd go by impaling himself on something!

Complete head cases, tell him next time he jumps something to make sure he can clear it :D
 
Years ago our 12.2 laminitic decided to jump out of his skinny paddock which was made of those 3'6" metal interlocking hurdles. I found him hanging suspended from the area between gut and stifle, tips of front toes just touching the floor, he could have been there for up to 4 hours!. Managed to release the hurdle either side and let it drop to the floor, he was extremely calm about the whole thing (but also very experinced at getting himself into a pickle, hence the use of the hurdles rather than elec fence). He trotted off a bit stiff but OK and as soon as he was out of reach stopped and had a huge pee, the hurdle must have been pressing on his bladder.

He never tried that trick again but did jump out of a pony stable over a 3'6" door, I have also seen him on his knees limbo-ing under a door rail. He was eventually PTS aged about 40 after having a small fit one weekend. Feisty and fun until the very end.
 
Don't be too hard on yourself. There are a few babies at the yard at the moment and they seem to be excelling in jumping out of fields and schools. Our school has a 5 bar gate with a gap at the bottom and the other side is built up but baby no 1 decided to exit left and jumped out, another new boy didn't like staying put when his mate was caught in. However he was too bright for his own good because (and I saw him do this myself). When YO upped height and ferocity of electric fencing, he simply picked up the handle, pulled it back and let himself and my horse out. He has stopped it now he has been split up from my horse and with another one!

Horses will be horses. We can be a little more laid back as all have cleared the fencing easily but the entire yard is surrounded by an 8 foot brick wall on oneside and deer fencing (again 8 foot) on the other. However, free schooling youngsters is now a no no!
 
Poor you.

My yearling lied down by a metal gate and had managed to poke her front legs through it. Consequently when she tried to get up she couldn't. I thought I was going to watch her break them both as I approached.

They really do turn you grey.

Hope your outcome is as good as mine was
 
Well good news so far...the vet thinks it is all superficial and that he will be fine. Obviously can't be certain as there is alot of swelling around the area but initiall impressions are good.
He is obviously lame but moving around in the stable ect happily and he is bright enough in himself. I actually think he is really bored now he kept following me around grabbing the fork/broom as I tried to muck out, he also tried to tip the wheelbarrow all of which are normal for him so that gave me some relief.
My instructor said he has seen so many horses do it out hunting, eventing ect and they are usually fine after a month so heres hoping.
Oh god not sure I will survive if I have to faff around with weeks of walking ect, he is too impatient at the best of times.

Well the thing is he has been known to jump gates in the past, once when he was left out alone, another time when he wanted to get into the mares field and the first time i ever freeschooled him but I really don't think his intention was to jump this one. In the past it never really concerned me but when you see what happens when it does go wrong it really is so dangerous.
They really aren't safe anywhere.
 
We know someone whose horse sadly broke a leg trying to jump a gate in the field. Sometimes it doesn't matter how vigilant you are accidents can and do happen. Hope your lad is okay today.
 
Mine did this on a stable door, we had to unbolt the door/hinges to free him. It was horrible, but he was fairly unscathed. He had oedemas on his belly/sheath, for a while he looked very well blessed, but it all went without permanent damage.
 
Mine jumped the post and rail in to the school yesterday. Stupid creature (not the same mare I should add) Fortunately he cleared it which is no mean feet given that where he jumped it it's knocking on for five foot and he only got two trot strides before he took off.

They do like to scare us don't they?!
 
It's impossible to protect them from themselves at times. Hope he heals quick & there is nothing serious.
 
A similar thing happened on our yard, a horse tried to jump out of its stable and ended up with its front over but with its hind end dangling over the door! Fortunately the horse remained very calm. Eventually the Fire Brigade arrived and cut through the thick wood to free the horse. It was completely unharmed. Would have been a lot worse if it had panicked but it seemed to know that people were trying to help it.
 
With regard to the safety and horse-proof surroundings, you are damned if you do and damned if you don't. It happens to the best of them, even the pro's who you'd expect to have everything covered. Horses are horses, and we have to keep that in mind as we patch them up and move on.
 
My filly tried to jump out the field and landed on the gate they had to take the gate of the hinges to release her. She was very swollen under her belly for a couple of weeks she was on antibiotics and dannillion for over a week. Don`t beat yourself up accidents happen
 
Rgoldenfilly said:
My filly tried to jump out the field and landed on the gate they had to take the gate of the hinges to release her. She was very swollen under her belly for a couple of weeks she was on antibiotics and dannillion for over a week. Don`t beat yourself up accidents happen
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Yes mine is also really swollen underneath his belly although his stifles don't have as much swelling as I expected.
He was supposed to be on box rest but when I arrived yesterday he was so bored and becoming really agitated so I decided to put him out for a couple of hours, didn't seem to do him any harm.
You could become neurotic worrying about the things they can hurt themselves on.
 
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