Disclaimer: there are graphic photos in this post.
As most of you probably know, last weekend we found our stud horse, Steele, standing in the pasture with a serious injury to his right hind leg.
I have had horses all of my life and I have dealt with my fair share of equine injuries and illnesses, but this injury was in a whole new ball park.
This happened very near the one-year anniversary of Wrangler’s injury where he went face-first through a barb-wire fence.
The first thought that went through my head: “Am I a terrible horse owner?”
Our horses are fed and watered, they receive annual vaccinations, see the farrier on a regular basis, and receive vet care as necessary. I have an “emergency fund” for the unexpected, but nothing extravagant.
My second thought was, “how on earth am I going to pay for the vet bill that’s sure to be quite hefty?”
I mean, a large portion of HIS BONE was showing. Even I, who has had zero medical training and suffers from an embarrassingly weak stomach, could plainly see that stitches weren’t going to be a quick-fix option.
And I sat there and judged myself. I judged my lack of a large emergency fund. I judged the barb-wire fence that surrounds our property. I judged my ability to keep my horses safe.
But you know what? I was the only one sending hateful messages to myself. And I want to thank you for that. Every message I received, apart from my own, were kind and compassionate and I’ll never have the words to express how grateful I am for that.
I promise, we’re doing the best we can. We provide for our horses and we take care of them the best we can short of bubble-wrapping them and never letting them really live.
To the best of our knowledge, Steele got hung up in the fence. There was a broken post and a lot of his tail hair and some hoof prints in the dirt directly under the fence. At first we thought maybe he snagged his tail and kicked out at the fence and got panicked, but now we wonder if he was simply rolling too close to the fence and got hung up.
Immediately upon finding out about his injury, his previous owner offered to care for him and doctor him. After spending a week at the vet’s office, we took her up on that amazing offer, feeling she can provide better care than we can, at least for the time being.
He is being treated like a king and probably won’t want to come home, but his prognosis is pretty good. He didn’t tear any tendons so he still has full range of motion and (amazingly) he isn’t lame on the injured leg. Our biggest concern at this point is the possibility of the bone becoming infected.
We appreciate all of your support and kindness and concern for Steele (and for us!) and I promise to keep you posted along the way. It will be a long road to recovery… probably 6 months of doctoring/wrapping the leg and keeping Steele confined to a stall and hand-walking. We’ll let you know how that goes for a young stallion!
Steele has been with his previous owner since Monday (5/6/2019) and she reports that he is still the sweetheart she remembers him to be and he is being an excellent patient for her. We are so blessed by her selfless offer to help!
