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Ariel was mistakenly left in Friday (don't ask, honest mistake). She gets quite mental if left in alone. Alexa found her like this when she went to turn her out at noon:



Brad (barn manager) called me. We decided he would clean it up and text me a picture. He texted me a picture and said she wouldn't let him touch her. I go out around 1:30 pm. She let me wipe the blood off her white blaze but wouldn't let me near the wound. I texted the pic to the vet and we decided he would come out to sedate her and clean it.

He shows up (I love my vet), took one glance and said "bad news is that it worse than it looks and the good news is that it will heal nicely and quickly."

He had to IV sedate her 3 times and inject the wound with a local. At one point she had to be twitched when he was probing the wound. At several times I had to leave the stall, in particular when he peeled back the flap and said "at least it doesn't go to the bone."

An hour later and she looked like this


She got a tetanus shot, a shot of Excede (as opposed to twice daily SMZs). She's on Bute twice a day through tomorrow. Fortunately there is no other aftercare. No ointment, no cleaning, she can go out.

Our barn is closed to COVID shelter in place. Special needs horse owners can come out (that includes me). Today is severe weather, so all the horses are in. She is fine if everyone else is in. Ariel had indoor playtime with friends and trotted and cantered. We went outside for 30 minutes of grazing. She is a tad subdued, but you wouldn't know if you didn't know her. Her appetite is fine.

What can I say??? I'm guessing the government rebate check will be going to the vet.....

you didn't ask for them, but i'm sending jingles to you both.

Yes, huge jingles.

Oh my goodness, Paula! Jingles for a quick and clean healing.

Ouch!! Poor Ariel! That hurts

Maia's skinned her face twice, calling for stitches and excede. Only a slight dimple remains for the second round (chipped a bone too). Their faces heal well, but look really pitiful in the meantime

Poor Ariel! Poor Paula! Jingles for quick healing and a small vet bill (first one possible; second one... ).

Ouch! Looks nicely put back together so fingers crossed for quick healing

Ouch.

Dont do a second shot of Excede.

Oh my gosh Paula, what a shock, and what a good tidy job the vet did. Jingles for easy quick healing, and (hah hah, trying to see the lighter side!): you weren't meant to be riding anyway, right?

Moutaineer wrote:Ouch.

Dont do a second shot of Excede.

No, only the one shot. That is the antibiotic du jour around the barn. We had strangles go through the pasture boarded horses, and one needed Excede. Ariel’s neighbor William got bastard strangles and he’s on a month of it.

I won’t be riding til the shelter in place order is lifted.

Ouch! Looks like a good stitch job and I bet she'll heal up nicely. It's extra sucky that this happened while you are needing to stay away from the barn though. Jingles for quick healing!

Maia logged her annual emergency vet visit this morning. Mastitis — again — with a 102 degree fever. Banamine and oral antibiotics ... plus antibiotics in her teat (yay? owie!!)

Can mares get mastitis if they aren’t nursing? Is this something else I need to worry about?

PaulaO wrote:Can mares get mastitis if they aren’t nursing? Is this something else I need to worry about?

I wouldn't worry about it. Maia's a maiden, and this is a recurrence. It's apparently extremely rare in maiden mares, but recurrences are common.

In 30+ years, neither of my other two mares (Maia's grandma and dam) ever had mastitis, and both had a foal.

Ugh, Paula! Your vet is right---it will heal nicely. Glad you were able to get her cared for so quickly.

My mare is also very touchy about being alone (inside or outside). If she's with me, she is fine, But if she doesn't have social support around her for being a horse, she flips out. Usually that means she will trot (outside) for as long as it takes for someone to notice her distress. Most of the time, we can manage around that, but these things do happen.

Maybe Ariel was really missing seeing you and thought it was worth self-destructing to make it legal for you to come to the barn? I am glad the vet was able to stitch up her wound so nicely. Heal quickly, pretty mare.

FWIW, thoroughbreds belonging to friends have needed a gosh-awful amount of sedatives for something simple, like dental work.

Ouch...nice stitch job though.

Way back when she was only 4 (or 5?), I hauled Kyra to a clinic to unload her and find she had a big flap of skin hanging right above her right eye. She had had a little tantrum in the trailer after I loaded her as she was leaving her bestie. I couldn't find so much as a drop of blood in the trailer. Home barn to the clinic was about 25 miles. Since she wasn't actively bleeding, I called the vet hospital to make an appt, we did our clinic session then I loaded her up and drove 30 miles to the vet clinic. I told the vet that I thought he might enjoy some cosmetic surgery to break up the real emergencies of colic and the like. Then I hauled her back to the home barn...another 25-30 miles.
Next morning, she looked a bit like a boxer that was on the losing end but was otherwise fine and we hauled all the way back to the clinic then back home. That turned into an expensive clinic with all the gas used and a nice big vet bill.

Jingles for rapid healing for Ariel.

Susan

Canyon wrote:Maybe Ariel was really missing seeing you and thought it was worth self-destructing to make it legal for you to come to the barn? I am glad the vet was able to stitch up her wound so nicely. Heal quickly, pretty mare.

FWIW, thoroughbreds belonging to friends have needed a gosh-awful amount of sedatives for something simple, like dental work.

I wish that were true but I've seen her in action. Even with the gigantic cut and blood dripping down her face, she was spinning and screaming. As soon as I took her out she was fine. She doesn't bolt out the door either.

As the vet was doing the first IV sedation, he looked at me and said "she's off the track, isn't she? She thinks I won't be able to find a vein but she is wrong." She makes her neck like iron when IV shots come around. And she's a bitty thing, 15.2 on a good day, yet needs extra sedation.

Oh my word. Poor both of you! Gah!!! Glad you are able to go check on her. Speedy healing for Miss A and peaceful jingles for you both!

oh my! that is something! Hope she heals up fast

Checked on Miss A. last night. The horses were out yesterday (Monday) and she had nice rolls in the mud. Fortunately she rolls only on one side, and doesn't grind her face. Of course she doesn't like being groomed but, as I always tell her, it's not MY fault that YOU rolled. Stitches look good but her face has bald patches from the vet clipping the hair.