What happened here? :(

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LongInTheTooth

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Hi All.
Last year I was involved with rescuing a young little coblet who had been shut in a box for weeks, often with no hay, feed or water :mad: The wonderful young girl who took her on has been tirelessly devoted to the pony's rehabilitation and a year or so later pony is fit, well and growing up nicely :D

Yesterday she went to check pony and this :eek::(








Now pony had been checked, by someone else, at 3pm and all fine. This at 4.30pm.....

Pony is in with several shetlands - all unscathed. Post and rail fencing. No barbed wire or other obvious hazards. Pony seemed fine and usual cheeky self. No evidence of any 'incident' in field or immediate area. Pony had not got out or gone through fence.
The paddock is next to a car park for an outdoor activity centre.
We are baffled. Dog? Several puncture wounds and grazes but the odd thing is the cut feather....this was how pony was found..... Anyone ever turned up to find their neds bearing anything similar?
 
That is likely not cut feather at all but a bite.....from one of the *****lands.
Looks like they have all had a bit of a ding dong (not unheard of with a new field mate).
All looks totally superficial, and will heal in time. You will just need to keep a good eye.
 
Gosh, poor neddy :(

If there are puncture wounds then I would suspect a dog attack. The cut feathers may have been caused by a lead wrapping found and had to be cut out or sawed the hair away.

Definately suspicious and would certainly be keeping an extra eye on the horses. It may be an accident but there are some sicko's out there.

My childhood pony was attacked in her field and cut under her tail :( Like you said, no barbed wire, branches etc so someone had blatently attacked her.

Hope he's ok.
 
Thanks for feedback.

Should have clarified - she's been in with the Shetlands for months and they are all fine with each other. She's in with one and there are two or three in the adjacent paddock so bar evils at tea time (which it wasn't) things are usually harmonious.

We've all been scratching our heads. I've not actually seen first hand - was sent pics last night for opinions. I must admit I did think a dog had got in from the car park but wasn't sure about the (missing) feather..... I wish they could ruddy talk!

Thank you for taking the time to post :D
 
I would look at the fencing again she could have put her leg through and done the damage getting it back out, I have seen similar although the puncture wounds are strange it could be a nail that worked loose.
 
It looks to me like she might slipped and fallen on a hard surface and gone down on her knee and stifle, and possibly done the other cuts with her opposite hooves. Is there any hard standing in the field?
 
It could be a trip injury. I've seen similar from a horse simply face-planting in the field (my youngster is pretty prone to just wiping out while fooling around). The cut feathers could be from something as simple as a stone slicing through them. At least it's all superficial and glad coblet has people looking after her after her start in life!
 
Thanks all.

I've only been to see her once or twice since she's been there but from what I can remember it's just grass in the field. I guess it's quite possible she has had a tangle with the fencing, or an argument with a stray stone.... possibly we'll never what actually went on! I'll get her to meticulously check the fencing. She's very diligent anyway so can't see that'll be a problem.

Thanks again!
 
I've seen what appear to be 'cut' feathers on hair cobs quite often and never got to the bottom of it but have wondered if it's an overreach or getting up 'injury'. At least the feathers protect the leg. Might be worth checking for feather mites in case the damage has been caused by scratching on fencing or troughs.
 
Personally, i would be putting wire mesh along the fence where the car park is to elminate the dogs from having access at all (i know it may not have been a dog)!

i hope the horse/pony in question is okay! them talking would be a help of alot easier!
 
Could be she's trip hence the skinned knee and sliced into the leg with a hind foot 'cutting' the hair. Coule have been as a result of getting caught on the fence and the scramble to get freed. Check the fencing for telltale hair on it. If a dog attack I would have expected to see evidence - ie churned up field, dried sweat on the horse as I would think a dog doing that would cause a degree of stress!
 
I don't think it is a dog; the wounds are not characteristic at all - dogs puncture, tear and bruise, and there would have to be opposing punctures if it were a bite. Looks like either a leg through a fence (even post and rail can cause this), a fall or trip. Not serious.
 
looks like a trip/slip injury to me too - except if only in field then were are the grass stains? Have seen horses very similarly injured from taking fright and tripping up. (Mine a fortnight ago when farmer used blow torch to repair tractor not a foot away from us - poor pony was brave to go past the tractor in the first place - we both jumped a mile high but sadly I got a better landing than she did)
 
Has the pony been treated for Mites? Ive seen this a lot in hairy legged cobs who will find anything to itch legs on, ive seen ponies with legs through the post and rail itching,trees/gates/hay feeders etc etc they will itch on anything, the blood from higher up the leg looks like a mite scab that has been itched until it bleeds, same as the hair that looks like its cut, where the pony has been rubbing to get relief. :(
 
Hi all and thanks for your thoughts.
Quick update :( My daughter went to see the filly today and clean her wounds (I told her what had been said on here about fencing/nails, leg mites etc) and the police came to have a look.
They all inspected every inch of the field for potential hazards and spent a long time with Blossom looking at her injuries and they are of the opinion that someone has attacked her with a pair of scissors :( :mad:

My daughter is really upset, she rang me and described how hair has been randomly hacked off every leg and as well as the holes and grazes she has odd nicks all over the left side of her body. She ran through every possible scenario with the policeman, over-reaching, standing on feathers, getting stuck on the fence and ripping them out...whatever... He wasn't having any of it. All of the hair that has been removed has disappeared, there were still shed hairs from grooming at the weekend lying about but no cut feather anywhere... She couldn't make any sense of it and is gutted. So am I.

Just thought I'd let you all know what was said :(
 
hmmm I really don't think there is anything untoward going on here.

My boy had came in from the field a few times with almost identical injuries, and was just caused by him playing with the other horses - including the "cut hair" part.

Edit - looked again, even in the exact same places!

Hope they heal well :)
 
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Just standard field related injuries. Most horses could damage themselves worse than this on thin air (it can be sharp stuff!).

I'm amazed you even thought about calling the police for something like this. Horse attacks that aren't related to a personal grudge are extremely rare.

I would however take a good look at the puncture wound to check how deep it is as it near joint and with all that hair hard to tell exactly what it has affected.
 
My old mare had similar injuries a few years back, but on all four limbs at varying heights and on her belly. Vet thought dog attack. Mare was elderly (28), and not that agile. Her field mate had no injuries but had diarrhoea and was sweated up.

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Im not sure about the other wounds but the feathers look definitely cut - when i saw them i wasnt sure if you had cut them to get a better look at the injury - my boy is out 24/7 and very playful and he has never got a feather injury that is so regular. I would assume the worst ...:mad:
 
Sorry but I can't believe you called the police over this.
I appreciate you will be concerned for your horse but these are so obviously just self inflicted field injuries. A child could tell you that they weren't done by scissors.
And you can see where he's tripped on the knee, as its handily still smeared with dirt where he hit the deck :eek:
 
Morning.

Thanks for taking the time to post. :eek: Mrselle - your poor mare. How did they happen. Hope everything healed ok.
I didn't call the police - the owners did. I was just told they were attending and I guess it's up to them to decide how they want to handle it. I have also seen all manner of lovely wounds over the last 40 years but could an over reach shear feather off the front of a hind leg? My daughter explained that the feather was randomly 'hacked' i.e. on one foot - cut right at the coronet band, then a 'layer' of long, then another shorn area. The pony has gone from being semi-feral to total people pony and is happy to hassle anyone nowadays but I'm struggling to understand how she would stand and let anyone actually hurt her? That doesn't make any sense to me.
I'm hoping she did do them herself, I really do and they were my first thoughts, then possibly a dog....(as there is a busy public car park next to the field). I haven't had chance to go see for myself as I no longer live in the area but just posted the pics I was sent for opinions, that's all and thank you for giving me yours. I'd like to let this thread quietly die now if that's ok. Thanks.
 
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