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I Used to be an Adventurer.....
Apr. 7th, 2017 05:53 amthen I took a HORSE to the face. :sigh:
Let me explain......about 2-3 months ago, we noticed a growth on Boots' left hind leg. It was...about the size of a grapefruit, and it was grainy. I tried to NOT assume tumor; I assumed proud-flesh on a wound, so got SG to dump lime on it every morning. Only, he isn't so good at daily follow-up; this Monday he told me it was getting bigger. :sigh:
He finally called the vet yesterday (what? She's HIS horse - he should be on top of this!); Dr. A came out yesterday afternoon. I met him at the gate; I told him, "Good news - we have a halter and rope on her. Bad news - she won't lead." (An aside: these horses are basically pasture maggots/lawn ornaments. I am getting too old to risk myself with silly, stupid horse-antics.) He said, "Hm. OK, let's see what we got."
Turns out, it was NOT a tumor (Thank God!) - it was fly strike. DO NOT GOOGLE. Basically, she got a cut, a fly found it, then invited all it's friends for an orgy. Trust me - don't look it up. It's nasty. NOT life-threatening, really, but if it gets big enough, it could become so. This one? Not the largest he'd seen, but up there.
Anyway. He went back to his truck to get the meds - he said he could do field surgery on it - and SG and I tried to get her thru the gate, onto the grass.
Here's the scene: SG is in front, holding the lead rope and belly band rope (another quick explanation: a belly band is usually soft cotton, about 1" in diameter, with a fixed loop on one end. You run the loop-end over the back, about where a saddle would sit, with the loop on the belly. The free end goes thru the loop, in between the front legs, and thru the halter ring to your hand/solid-set post. It's a lever-system; when the horse fights the rope, their head gets pulled to their chest. They quickly learn that they are fighting themselves, and quit.) I, being an experienced horse-person, was on her left side, tapping her to get her to move forward.
She wasn't budging, so I decided to reconfigure the belly-band into a come-along; I pulled it off of her, ran a large loop behind her rump in between her tail and knees (OK, her hocks - trying to keep this understandable to non-horse people). Both ends of the rope (which was actually a flat nylon lunge-line - it was the longest strap/rope I could find) were in my hands, and I was still on her left side, at her shoulder.
At this point, I should tell you that she was about 3' from the fence - on her LEFT side. I am so accustomed to working horses on the left (it's Tradition!) that I didn't stop to consider the situation.......
So. SG starts tugging on her head, I am pulling on the come-along. She takes 2 steps forward (:huzzah!:), then realized her head was no longer tied to her chest, and decided to pitch a fit.......only, because no one told me she was about to throw herself backwards (to get away from the head-pulling), I kept pulling the come-along....and tipped her over sideways.
On top of me.
Into the fence.
Thank God she only hit my face with her left eye-socket. She knocked my glasses off and me into the ground. We ended up with me sprawled on my right hip/shoulder, with a horse head in my chest and my left shoulder/hip squished into the fence post. Also, Thank God that barbed wire is NOT used on horse fences! :shudder:
It took a few seconds for me to figure out how to get myself extracted; her legs were on top of mine, with her head curved around into my chest and her shoulder/back sort of....on top of but not touching me. My glasses were - again, Thank God! - not broken.
We got ourselves sorted before Dr. A came back (again, Thank God! I've had this vet for over 30 years....and I really didn't want him to see me under a horse. :sigh:)
Long story, shorter: The "happy shot" knocked her flat out, so we saved money not needing the "knock out" shot. Dr. A whacked off the growth and got her bandaged up. We were able to get her into the breeding pen (with her buddy, Leah), where she will remain for...a while. The wound is about the size of a silver-dollar; she has to have it wrapped until it's smaller than a quarter.
Me? I have a nasty bruise on my right cheekbone. I'm pretty sure it's not broken - it hurts, but doesn't make me nauseous. I have a bad laceration in my left armpit, where the arm meets the shoulder. Hurts to move, and sleeves are Right Out. My back.....looks like road rash. From about my 3rd rib down to my waist, it's all scraped, and cut, and bruised. I am bruised from my shoulder to my knees, the worst being where my left side scraped down the fence post. Moving is quite painful, but do-able.
I'm glad I don't feel worse; trying to explain what happened to a concerned ER staff would be fun, but I think they'd not believe me - especially with the facial bruising (small, but obvious. You can tell my glasses were shoved into my face; not sure "took a horse to the face" would be believed.)
I am going to try to take this time to actually get her ridable. Why not - she's contained, she's going to be slow...and Himself really, really wants to work with a horse. I'm not going to complain - and he's not going to argue with my safety rules. He can see the damage a horse can do accidentally - I don't think he wants to see what they can do deliberately.
Y'all have a Happy Shabbat - I'm going to be on the couch with ice packs. Pesach is going to be FUN this year.....:sigh:
Let me explain......about 2-3 months ago, we noticed a growth on Boots' left hind leg. It was...about the size of a grapefruit, and it was grainy. I tried to NOT assume tumor; I assumed proud-flesh on a wound, so got SG to dump lime on it every morning. Only, he isn't so good at daily follow-up; this Monday he told me it was getting bigger. :sigh:
He finally called the vet yesterday (what? She's HIS horse - he should be on top of this!); Dr. A came out yesterday afternoon. I met him at the gate; I told him, "Good news - we have a halter and rope on her. Bad news - she won't lead." (An aside: these horses are basically pasture maggots/lawn ornaments. I am getting too old to risk myself with silly, stupid horse-antics.) He said, "Hm. OK, let's see what we got."
Turns out, it was NOT a tumor (Thank God!) - it was fly strike. DO NOT GOOGLE. Basically, she got a cut, a fly found it, then invited all it's friends for an orgy. Trust me - don't look it up. It's nasty. NOT life-threatening, really, but if it gets big enough, it could become so. This one? Not the largest he'd seen, but up there.
Anyway. He went back to his truck to get the meds - he said he could do field surgery on it - and SG and I tried to get her thru the gate, onto the grass.
Here's the scene: SG is in front, holding the lead rope and belly band rope (another quick explanation: a belly band is usually soft cotton, about 1" in diameter, with a fixed loop on one end. You run the loop-end over the back, about where a saddle would sit, with the loop on the belly. The free end goes thru the loop, in between the front legs, and thru the halter ring to your hand/solid-set post. It's a lever-system; when the horse fights the rope, their head gets pulled to their chest. They quickly learn that they are fighting themselves, and quit.) I, being an experienced horse-person, was on her left side, tapping her to get her to move forward.
She wasn't budging, so I decided to reconfigure the belly-band into a come-along; I pulled it off of her, ran a large loop behind her rump in between her tail and knees (OK, her hocks - trying to keep this understandable to non-horse people). Both ends of the rope (which was actually a flat nylon lunge-line - it was the longest strap/rope I could find) were in my hands, and I was still on her left side, at her shoulder.
At this point, I should tell you that she was about 3' from the fence - on her LEFT side. I am so accustomed to working horses on the left (it's Tradition!) that I didn't stop to consider the situation.......
So. SG starts tugging on her head, I am pulling on the come-along. She takes 2 steps forward (:huzzah!:), then realized her head was no longer tied to her chest, and decided to pitch a fit.......only, because no one told me she was about to throw herself backwards (to get away from the head-pulling), I kept pulling the come-along....and tipped her over sideways.
On top of me.
Into the fence.
Thank God she only hit my face with her left eye-socket. She knocked my glasses off and me into the ground. We ended up with me sprawled on my right hip/shoulder, with a horse head in my chest and my left shoulder/hip squished into the fence post. Also, Thank God that barbed wire is NOT used on horse fences! :shudder:
It took a few seconds for me to figure out how to get myself extracted; her legs were on top of mine, with her head curved around into my chest and her shoulder/back sort of....on top of but not touching me. My glasses were - again, Thank God! - not broken.
We got ourselves sorted before Dr. A came back (again, Thank God! I've had this vet for over 30 years....and I really didn't want him to see me under a horse. :sigh:)
Long story, shorter: The "happy shot" knocked her flat out, so we saved money not needing the "knock out" shot. Dr. A whacked off the growth and got her bandaged up. We were able to get her into the breeding pen (with her buddy, Leah), where she will remain for...a while. The wound is about the size of a silver-dollar; she has to have it wrapped until it's smaller than a quarter.
Me? I have a nasty bruise on my right cheekbone. I'm pretty sure it's not broken - it hurts, but doesn't make me nauseous. I have a bad laceration in my left armpit, where the arm meets the shoulder. Hurts to move, and sleeves are Right Out. My back.....looks like road rash. From about my 3rd rib down to my waist, it's all scraped, and cut, and bruised. I am bruised from my shoulder to my knees, the worst being where my left side scraped down the fence post. Moving is quite painful, but do-able.
I'm glad I don't feel worse; trying to explain what happened to a concerned ER staff would be fun, but I think they'd not believe me - especially with the facial bruising (small, but obvious. You can tell my glasses were shoved into my face; not sure "took a horse to the face" would be believed.)
I am going to try to take this time to actually get her ridable. Why not - she's contained, she's going to be slow...and Himself really, really wants to work with a horse. I'm not going to complain - and he's not going to argue with my safety rules. He can see the damage a horse can do accidentally - I don't think he wants to see what they can do deliberately.
Y'all have a Happy Shabbat - I'm going to be on the couch with ice packs. Pesach is going to be FUN this year.....:sigh:
