Ow ow ow !

[Plomino]

Ok , so am blatantly posting for some sympathy . Had a bit of a mishap this morning . Took the new boy out for a quiet bimble before work , with whom I've had a few issues ( a bit nappy , not particularly confident , and very sharp . Not averse to trying the drop shoulder and spin manoeuvre if he thinks he can get away with it ) So there we are , quiet farm lane , sun shining , me singing , him actually being totally well behaved , having had a really nice plod , best ride we've had out so far , barely 200 yards from home , when my farming neighbour starts coming down the road with his tractor and trailer , which has a drop end. Lovely man , wife has horses .

As he gets within 100 yards of us , the trailer hits a bump . And the fucking end of the trailer somehow detaches at one end , which he starts dragging towards us , making a hell of a noise . With sparks . Before he can realise and stop , horse has done a bloody good meerkat impression , grown about 8 hands , spun round like a 12hh mounted games pony , slipped , and hit the road . I go out the side door , and land both hands first , shortly followed by my head and shoulder . Farmer leaps out of the tractor in horror , and managed to get a decent hold of the reins which I have somehow managed to keep my arm through , just before he scrabbled to his feet . Fortunately I was wearing the air jacket , which worked a treat , but horse has managed to take the skin off one back leg from hock to fetlock pretty much . Farmer's run up the road to grab the vet , and we get him home , where he is now doped up to the eyes on copious amounts of bute . Meanwhile , I think I've buggered my wrist .

Have gone to a and e , and returned home with a lovely Velcro wrap thing . Broke my bloody scaphoid . I could cry .

And the worst part ? Farmer and his wife are MORTIFIED . They've turned up to apologise , say they'll pay all the vets bills , and the wife is going to help out keeping my other horse going , but they brought over a shitload of decent wine and some flowers , and I can't drink the wine as I've got a massive set of painkillers . At least I can type with one hand though, so all is not lost . Great . Fantastic advert for the air jacket though.

Oh bollocks Plo. How bloody scary. Given the circumstances I think you were pretty lucky not to be badly hurt. Hope you and the youngster make a quick recovery.

I'm gutted. He was just starting to come good , and I've just been out to the yard to check him again , and he's standing there shifting from foot to foot trying to get comfortable . Poor little bugger . Normally he's so cheeky , and he's got the saddest face on . I might actually cry . Again.

DH was a total star though , as were the kids , who rushed round when the vet was here , getting him hot water and stuff . And tea for me .

Oh how horrible. . What a fright. Mind you, that would be enough to give the quietest horse the spooks wouldn't it. How is his leg, hopefully superficial damage? Hope you both heal quickly and in the meantime enjoy a little bit of the wine at least. It'll help you sleep. Like you say, makes you realise air jackets are worth the money aren't they. I hesitated a while before I bought one but you've just made me realise I made the right decision.

Is this the pony that you took on several months ago? Sorry that you've had such a scare. A horse going down on you is terribly frightening, and he's done a good one in skinning himself like that too.

Glad that you have some really nice people around you with your family and neighbours. Please don't be too upset about the horse, you know what it is like sometimes, one step forward, two steps back. He's obviously come a long way from where he once was.

Zazzles , yes that's him . I can see exactly why he was too much for his last owner , but he's got so much better manners wise . In fact he's become very well behaved in the stable , and this was just so unfortunate . I don't blame his reaction at all , my other one would have done just the same , and you wouldn't have seen my first pony for dust !

The vet's coming back out tomorrow to redress and check the swelling , just to make sure he hasn't got anything nasty in there , and has then suggested using the Manuka honey , like we did for my first pony's accident to encourage the healing . Hopefully he won't be too lame , but he's certainly not comfortable tonight , even dosed up with bute and an intravenous painkiller.

Oh no, what a nightmare! I hope you and the horse make a speedy recovery and his confidence isn't too dented!

Hope you make a fast recovery, and your horse does too.

Just goes to show you don't need to be flying round a XC course to 'justify' wearing an air jacket. I always wear mine but amazed how many people don't wear any body protection.

What a nightmare. Hope you and pony are OK soon. Just as well you had that air jacket on.

Well he's a poorly sore boy today . The leg's really swollen up and he's hopping lame , but the vet says its probably a combination of bruising and the pain from losing half the skin off his leg that's causing the lameness , rather than some actual problem like a tendon or muscle injury . He's had a lot of hosing , and his both back legs are bandaged up , one with the wound dressing which basically goes from just over his hock all the way down the outside to his fetlock , and the other one to balance it out . He's marginally happier and is resigned to being kept in , as long as he's got someone making a fuss of him . He's eaten his way through almost a whole bale of hay ( buying small hole nets tomorrow ! ) and doesn't seem to mind too much as long as I leave the radio on for him . Hates radio 1 , but seems quite happy with classic fm so far . Maybe when he's better I should give dressage to music a go .

Another vet visit tomorrow , and I think we'll try and stick with just the bute , and then begin the Manuka honey .

Oh god how scary. Lovely of them to offer to pay!!!

Hope both of you heal very soon!!!

Gosh Plomino, glad to hear that it is 'only' skin, and not muscle and tendon involved. I'm sure he is lapping up the attention. Poor pony!

Sounds like he is going to have quite a bit of stable time in the near future. Do you think he would play with toys?

That sounds both terrifying and painful, hopefully the worst will be wearing off now. If you haven't already, it would be worth bandaging his front legs as well, to provide support whilst he's not moving much - my vet advised this when dhorse was in for a while with a tendon injury.

Plomino - how are you and dhorse
Doing?

Well I'm ok , sore and on painkillers but that's not too bad considering . DHorse is resigned to staying in , but we had to give him some sedation for the first two days as he went spare when the other two went out and kept running round his box , which didnt do much for the leg . He's on two sachets of bute a day , and the swelling's gone down quite a bit which is good . Still having to dress the wound every day , but it seems to be looking much better and a lot less angry than it was , so really I think we got away with it to be honest . It could have been so much worse .

That said , just to add joy to my week , I got the vet to do big horse's teeth while he was there , and it seems he may be losing his front teeth , due to an incurable disease called equine ordontoclastic resorption something something . Great .

ouch! glad you are both feeling a bit better.

what does that mean for your other horse?

It seems eventually , he may end up losing most of his teeth , as they get absorbed back into the jawbone . No one knows why it happens , but the only way to slow it down is through steroids , but there is no actual cure . That said , the vet said that its a slow process , and that most horses with it die from totally unrelated matters , so although infuriating , it's not totally the end of the world . I did toy with a new business venture - horse dentures . It might catch on !

yeap it could catch on