Close Call

(P's cammo vet wrap and sheet cotton after cantering around and rolling in the mud ALL day - I think it held up quite well!)

Yesterday as I drove into work, oblivious to the world in my "drive zone" I got the call that no horse owner wants to get.

My horses had gotten out, P had gotten in a fight with the neighbor's horses (over the little mare that's in heat) over the fence and got his leg caught in the gate, ripped the gate down 'freeing' the neighbor's horses and now they were all out together in the temporary paddock together - running, kicking, biting, bucking.

And the only person there was the neighbor's husband - NOT a horse person.

Awesome.

So I had a 40 minute drive of panic back home, of which was filled with horrific images of what I was gonna drive up to see. I also slowly realized that during my rushed morning, I had no recollection of doing the temporary gate up properly - AWESOME again... whatever fate I was going to find was my fault!

Once there I viewed the World War 3 wreckage that was in our back yard, and then viewed the calm horses chilling out in the respective pastures - a bit sweating a winded but, other than that, looked fine.

Jogged P up and he was quite stiff. Looked at the gate and couldn't believe he had 4 legs left! Poulticed and wrapped his hind that had done the damage from top to bottom and hoped for the best. No bute yet, just so I could see what we were dealing with last night.

When I got home, I was pleasantly surprised to find a sound P-man (a bit stiff, but really, who wouldn't be after getting a foot caught OVER the top of a gate). Left the wrap off last night, a bit of bute (reccommended by my wonderful vet, Dr. Kate Lombardi of Lombardi Mobile Equine) and he looks good this morning (again, just a bit stiff). There is a bit of swelling, but the heat is gone as of this morning. I doctored the skinned spots, and applied a standing wrap just to support it a bit as he's not being very 'careful', aka - he's still trotting and cantering like a mad man!

I'll probably still throw him on the trailer for the show tomorrow, just so I can let him hang and give him some massages between my coaching duties... I imagine the body stiffness will be the biggest problem.

So thank God P is a tough old man (albeit a bit crazy), and that it seems the only thing this cost me was a $200 gate!