Lessons Learned...

Just about two weeks ago now, I lived through every horse owner's nightmare, I went to pull Chief out of the pasture and he was severely lame.  I'm not talking just a little limp, I'm talking, he would barely take two steps.  And looking back at this experience, I would have done things differently, but you live and you learn.

Chief is my first horse and though I have been around horses since I was young, he is my first go around at being an owner.  There is a lot you learn the longer you own a horse.  Well a couple of Saturday's ago, I learned about detecting lameness, and potential causes of lameness.

It was a beautiful Saturday in August, there aren't many of those, but I was excited to get saddled up and hit the trail.  I went out to the pasture to get Chief who was happily munching on some grass.  I put the halter on him and asked him to walk on.  Only he took one step and stopped.  I asked again and he could barely put any weight on his right leg.  Upon further inspection, there was a scratch on this shoulder, it was superficial, but very large.  And so I went down the leg and he was swollen from the top of his hoof up through his shoulder.  Talk about a pit in the stomach...  I pulled out my cell phone an immediately called the vet and explained the situation.  Of course since it was Saturday, they had to call the vet who was on call and they would call me back.  I said no worries, it would take me that long just to get him in the barn.  Did I mention, Chief was in the furthest corner from the gate?  The nice lady on the phone then said "hang in there."  And that is when I lost it.  She could tell from the phone that clearly my horse was in trouble.  If the lady on the phone knew, then it HAD to be bad.

But there was a task at hand, get Chief up to the barn.  So we would take two steps and rest, two steps and rest.  I thought maybe I could lure him forward with treats, Chief will do anything for a treat.  And it worked for about 2 steps and that as all I could get out of him.  I then called A. who had driven up just as I was headed to the pasture.  I told her to bring a whip from my locker that we needed to give Chief some encouragement.  That brought down the other A. and K. too.  Upon everyone's first inspection Chief was in poor shape, just barely putting weight on his right front leg.  At this time, the vet called and said he would be on his way.  Thank goodness, but it would be at least an hour for him to get there.  So, we struggled up to the barn with some light encouragement from the whip.  As soon as that whip was in the picture, Chief seemed a bit more willing to move.  We quickly got him to a stall and let him rest until the vet got there.

I was still panicking at this point, not thinking clearly, just seeing that my poor horse was in pain and could quite possibly have to be put down that day.  Thankfully, my ferrier was in the area and he stopped in to take a quick look at him.  And he picked up Chief's leg and moved it forward and backwards.  He said he was certain it wasn't broken.  If he could pick it up and move it without significant pain, then it was not broken.  That made me fell 100% better.  I could deal with an injury as long as we didn't have to put him down.  Chief is 12 this year so he has at least 10 good years left in him.

So lesson 1, next time this happens, attempt to move the leg.  If the horse isn't in significant pain when you move the leg, it is not broken.

Shortly there after, the vet arrived.  He picked up Chief's foot and he said, "his foot is hot."  For for all you horse people out there you know, a hot foot means an abscess.  An abscess has got to be one of the easiest things to fix.  At which point I said, "I would feel really bad if I brought you all the way out here for an abscess."  So the vet goes to get his tools, and sure enough he was VERY sensitive on the sole of his foot, specifically in the heel where he would not put weight.

So lesson 2, before you assume the leg is broken, check the foot, is it hot?  If so, stop panicking, and call your ferrier, not the vet who charges you an emergency vet fee...

So the vet digs out the abscess and  lets it drain for a bit.  Poor Chief was shaking from the pain, that sucker hurt.  But the vet did give him some good pain meds which was nice.  He then put a poultice pad on the foot and wrapped it up.  Instructions were to change out poultice pads every 2-3 days, and keep it dry for 10 days.  And bute, twice a day as needed.

So lesson 3, don't panic when your horse is hurt.  Check the easy things first and start from the bottom of the leg, namely the hoof.  If it is not the hoof, start working your way up until you can find the approximate area of the pain.  That gives you something to work off of when you call the vet and/or your ferrier if it is a foot problem.    

So while Chief gets a nice long break from riding, it gives me plenty of time to reflect on my experience from a couple of weeks ago.  I learned 3 good lessons and I'll be a better horse owner because of it.  So hopefully, for those new horse owners out there, maybe you can learn from my mistakes.  We'll be back on the trails next week!