On The Injured List

WARNING - there are gross and gnarly wound photos in this post; if that squicks you out, skip this one!

Saturday was likely to be one of the very last beautiful, temperate fall weekend days in this part of the world. I planned to spend most of it at the barn setting a new jump course, riding, cleaning tack, and then heading to a different farm to body clip a friend's horse.

All of those plans went out the window when Dino limped up to me with this bloody mess:

SO. MUCH. BLOOD.
After I cleaned it, before the vet arrived.
It was an ugly, bloody laceration on the inside of his front left leg right above the coronary band. Dino was reluctant to put weight on it, and it was streaming blood. After having a moment of panic, I immediately went into crisis-management-mode and pulled him over to the wash rack, took pictures of the wound, washed and disinfected it, and called and texted my vet. She advised me to wrap the wound, give Dino some Banamine, and wait for her to arrive.

"My foot is broked plz to fix."
THREE HOURS LATER...

My awesome vet arrived at the farm and prepped her surgical tools. She was actually quite pleased with the wound upon inspection. It was a very clean slice, had bled profusely well and flushed out any debris that may have been present, and had only gone through the first layer of tissue. No important structures in the leg were injured at all, which was a huge relief! While my vet said that the wound would likely heal on its own with just bandaging alone, she thought that a few staples and stitches would definitely speed the process along. I gave her the go ahead to sew up my pony.


Prepped for stitches! 
Now, this is the part where Dino is an absolute CHAMPION and honestly the greatest, best pony in the entire world. He stood like a rock for the vet to clip the area, and didn't even flinch when she put a needle into several areas of the wound to administer local anesthetic.

Did I mention that Sully and Chance were both being body clipped nearby at the time, and Chance was thrashing around and making an awful ruckus?

My vet did not administer ANY general sedative. She later told me that she NEVER performs any kind of surgical procedure on a horse without some kind of tranquilizer on board, except for this time, on Dino.

He's a freakin' badass.

Dino stood patiently and stoically with his muzzle resting on my shoulder while my vet put in five staples and four stitches, closing the wound nicely. He never flinched.

Staples and stitches after just a day and a half of healing time. Um. Wow. 


He'll need to be bandaged for another day or so, and is still quite tender on the wounded leg (wouldn't you be?!) but his sutures will come out early next week and after that Dino should be good to go! Because of the nature of the wound, he doesn't need to be on any antibiotics and should heal absolutely beautifully. Unfortunately, his stitches and staples won't be out by Opening Meet next week, which is so disappointing, but I'd rather have Dino sound and ready to rock for the rest of the season than risk the wound opening back up or getting infected by hunting him. I'm so pleased with how the laceration is healing already, and have full confidence that Dino will be off the injured list soon!

Comments

  1. That's one seriously tough pony!!!
    How do you think he managed to do it? Caught himself with the other foot?

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    1. i think one of the mini donks has a shiv

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    2. TBH this is the best theory I've heard. We weren't able to find whatever he sliced himself on, and the laceration was made by too sharp an object for it to just have been him stepping on himself! It's a mystery.

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  2. Oh man. So glad it isn't anything very serious. Ponies find the damndest ways to hurt themselves.

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  3. Oooooo. PUUUUKE. That looks horrible. SO GLAD it's not as bad as it appeared to be. I know it sucks. :( Prayers and best wishes for a fast recovery!

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  4. poor buddy :( hopefully it heals up quickly and without complication! i'm amazed/jealous he doesn't need any antibiotics too bc my own beast will happily blossom into full blown infection from the merest of scrapes.... sigh.

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  5. Tough pony! Hope it heals up even quicker than expected :)

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  6. Oh my goodness. That must have given you a turn. I love that he knows to stand still because you will make him better. Irish swears that cookies/peppermints etc are known pain-killers and should be given freely.

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  7. They do find a way to make things exciting. Glad he's ok!

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  8. Buddy! What a brave pony to stand there. I'm sure he'll be back in action in no time.

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  9. Yikes!! Sounds like he got lucky. What a good man for letting the vet help him out so easily!

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  10. Yikes! I hope Dino heals up quickly and is back on the hunt field soon!

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  11. Ouch! Glad it wasn't worse - hope he heals up quickly!

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  12. Poor Pony :( I did giggle at the Shiv comment but sending all the healing thoughts that he’s right as rain soon :)

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  13. HOLY cow first off i am glad he is okay. UGH i might have puked to have seen that live! LOL Glad he was such an awesome pony to be treated and glad it is healing so well! YAY. Whew nothing like adding a few years to you right? :)

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  14. Oh geez I'm glad he's okay!! Poor Dino!

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  15. Yikes, glad Dino managed to have a best case scenario here. And what a trooper for being so good for the vet! Hope he's 100% in no time!

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  16. Stoic beast!! Glad it was relatively minor and will heal up with no issues!

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  17. Noooooo, Dino!

    I'm so glad it's healing quickly. That's a pretty good knock!

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  18. OUCH!!! I'm glad it was more ugly than serious. What a champ. Good boy. Hope it heals quickly and completely.

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  19. Ouchies!!!! Poor Dino! Glad the recovery time is short!

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