Today started out good. Blair had to work so the kids and I made all the fixings for tacos and packed it in a picnic basket. We were going to take two of the horses to the grass lease and have a trail ride and a picnic, then hunt easter eggs and have a confetti egg war. Tanner helped me back up to the trailer and I buckled the kids in their seats and went to load up the horses. The newest mare, Nelly, did not want to get in the trailer. She was being stubborn. So I looped the lead rope around a beam in the trailer and stepped out to give her a little spank on the rump to make her get in....I did not tie her in....if she had pulled very hard she would have been loose... when I stepped out of the trailer she reared up and smashed her head on the trailer door...then reared up and did it again and lost her footing and fell with half her body and head under the back of the trailer. I pulled her free and when she stood up I noticed some cuts and scrapes on her face. I went to take her back to a stall to out her up and then she turned her head to look at me and there on her right eye lid was a HUGE gash. When she blinked I could look into the big gaping hole and see her eyeball! I freaked out.....I called my dad and was hysterically describing it to him and then I looked down and saw that she had a huge laceration on her left leg just below her knee. It was all the way to the muscle underneath.
Why do horses always manage to injure themselves when it is a holiday weekend. My dad called our normal vet and left him a message. Blair called the large animal vet out here in Greenwood and left a message. Then we frantically started calling people with horses to see if anyone had any sedatives to sedate her so we could fix it. We got ahold of one of the parents of a girl on Tanner's t-ball team and he was so kind and came right over with some drugs. Then we had to find sutures or staples....after calling in alot of favors we got our hands on some suture material and a skin stapler.
My neighbor, Courtney, came over and with her help and Blair we sedated poor Nelly and cleaned her wounds and got her all fixed up.... I bandaged her leg and we will see tomorrow when I take the bandage off to hose it down if the stitches hold....the laceration was in an odd place and she keeps pacing around so they may rip out....in which case we will have to sedate her again and redo it.
My awesome neighbor took her roundpen apart and hauled 4 of the panels over so that we could set up a temporary pen for Nelly in the back yard. Oh if only the barn was finished! But until we finish construction we have no true stalls for everyone....just pens with sheds in them.
What a crazy day! I am worn out! Thank heavens for good neighbors and amazing friends!
