# Injured horse - need suggestions please



## Wags (Jun 2, 2002)

My 4yr old green broke mare was kicked by her pasture mate sometime last night. I sent pictures to a vet, and discussed it with her and we decided to go the route of a cold water rinse and then treating with Vetrimycin.

I've only had this horse for a couple of weeks, certainly not enough time to have built up any sort of close bond with her and she hates being tied. We are working on that, but I'm afraid if I tie her up and then try to hose her off she is going to totally freak out. She has not been bathed before and all I have is a garden hose.

I have tried convincing her that the hose is not a scary monster most of the afternoon with out any success. I let her sniff and hear and see and then leave it and come back. 

I'm starting to think sedating her (and paying the extra $150 for the vet to come out on Sunday) is about all I can do. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get a scarred young horse to cooperate?


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## chris30523 (Jun 11, 2005)

Have you tried a bucket of water and a sponge or cup to slowly pour the water on? Most horses are not afraid of a bucket. I wouldn.t try to tie her if you have someone who can hold her. Don't hold her close and let her move away if she wants until she gets used to it. I had a mare with a wound above her eye that we used ice water in a bucket and a sponge to rinse it out. We just squeezed the sponge close to her wound and she did fine.(Don't rub with the sponge just squeeze out the cold water) Not as good as a stream of water from the hose but it works.


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

I've always had better luck if I handle the horse and the hose. Make sure you have your horse in a pen in case you do lose her. Don't hold her tight and keep the hose close to you and start with a light stream and wet her feet. She may step away but keep at it slowly working your way up her legs until you can get to the shoulder. It may take a while but use this as a training opportunity and if it takes a couple days, you might want to use a simple spray bottle until you're both on the same page.


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## Wags (Jun 2, 2002)

Tried the bucket and sponge - didn't work. She is just totally scared of her own shadow at this point. *sigh*


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## chris30523 (Jun 11, 2005)

Have you been able to rinse it at all? I have used scarlet oil before but I was able to rinse the area first. The spray bottle is a good idea if you can get her used to the sound.


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## Tiempo (May 22, 2008)

wr said:


> I've always had better luck if I handle the horse and the hose. Make sure you have your horse in a pen in case you do lose her. Don't hold her tight and keep the hose close to you and start with a light stream and wet her feet. She may step away but keep at it slowly working your way up her legs until you can get to the shoulder. It may take a while but use this as a training opportunity and if it takes a couple days, you might want to use a simple spray bottle until you're both on the same page.


 This is what I would do but I wouldn't even bother with the spray bottle. 

Just stay by her shoulder at a safe distance and move with her...keep the spray down by her feet until she gives and slowly work your way up.

Look at this as an opportunity to get her used to the hose once and for all.

Good luck!


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## Wags (Jun 2, 2002)

It has been just me with her, and about the only thing I've managed is to get her mane braided and away from her wound. I haven't been able to get it cleaned at all. And at this point she won't let me close to her.


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

Wow, where to start........

I'm trying to be kind here, I really am. To start with, "green broke" is probably the most dangerous and inaccurate words in the horse world. If anyone ever tries to sell (or give) you a "green broke" horse run, not walk away. Secondly, you need actual live help from a good trainer. Not for the horse, but for yourself. You really do need to learn how to handle this horse. This situation is bad enough that you will not get what you need by asking questions here.

That said, the wound looks worse than it really is. It is just skin deep. Probably too late to stitch. If you can get close enough I would slather on a good layer of furozone cream. It should heal up just fine.


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

I agree with tinknal, the injury isn't overly bad and if I'm not mistaken, you haven't had much recent horse experience so I'm thinking that you're likely causing a lof of your own problems because you are expecting her to behave badly. I think you mentioned a trainer in an earlier post and perhaps you can call your trainer and get them to come over and show you how to handle this. 

Her respect for you is currently being tested and it's going to shape the rest of your relationship. If she wins this round, you can darned sure bet she's going to do her best to win the next one and the one after that.


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## Wags (Jun 2, 2002)

You are right, she is green and I've been out of horses for awhile. But I was not expecting her to behave like this, as we did have a pretty good relationship prior to this. She was better this morning, but when we removed her buddy (the one that kicked her) she got much more upset and her buddy is upset at the separation too which isn't helping matters. I was the only she would let get close to her this afternoon, but she doesn't trust me if I have anything other than her lead rope in my hand at present. 

The vet will be coming tomorrow to sedate her so we can get it cleaned up, and after that I will continue to treat her and build trust. The trainer isn't available, but I spoke with him by phone and he recommended against stitching it. 

I know forums aren't the best place to ask for advice, but sometimes ideas are presented that I haven't tried before, or that the vet hasn't mentioned.


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

How green is she and what training methods are you using to build trust? Having to sedate a horse can be necessary but it may also open a whole new can of worms.


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## Wags (Jun 2, 2002)

She had about 60 days of training on her when I got her. I'm doing natural horsemanship - the trainer I have worked with uses methods that he learned from Buck Brannaman. I have also read and watched DVD's from other natural horsemanship instructors.


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

Sorry to tell you this, but a horse that has had 60 days training should stand tied and tolerate handling. You need to go back to day one with this horse. Have you ever heard of the Minnesota Horse Training Academy? They offer a 3 week school. I will guarantee you that if you attended this course that in 3 weeks you, and your horse will be better trained those 60 days of training produced.


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## Wags (Jun 2, 2002)

I agree that she should do better with the amount of training she had prior to coming here, although I don't think she was ever very good about standing tied. Hasn't helped that I was in an accident on the way to pick her up. So I haven't been able to do a whole lot with her once she was delivered.

Minnesota is a bit far away for me. I had planned on placing her with a trainer locally, but the vet bills are going to eat up what I had set aside for it. I am confident we will get where we need to be, just won't be overnight.


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

I apologize. I didn't realize you were injured in an accident or I would have suggested someone else handle her firmly. Unless you have some other work planned, I don't think your vet bill is going to be too expensive. 

If you don't mind me asking, how does she come to only have minimal training at her age?


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## chris30523 (Jun 11, 2005)

Glad the vet is coming out. Sounds like you need the help to treat the wound. If she will still let you approach with the lead line you can work out the other problems. Sounds like when you get this problem fixed she needs alot of desensitizing work. Experienced trainers are well worth the price if they work with you and the horse.


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## Sherry in Iowa (Jan 10, 2010)

Hi Wags, sorry your horse got injured. Hope the vet and you get her fixed up safely today. I just wanted to add that sugar or honey on that wound will help it stay infection free and heal nicely. 

My sister-in-law's horse got a rip across her chest. She used the sugar and you can't even see the scar now.

Wishing you and your horse the best.


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## Wags (Jun 2, 2002)

The vet bill will be about $350-400 dollars. Her adoption fee was $500. Hubby was never 100% on board with having horses so my concern is mainly about him when it comes to the bill.

Curious came into the rescue along with her dam and 3 other horses that were also starved. (Body condition scores were all 1 or less.) At 18 months old she had no human handling and was a very scared and angry horse. She has mellowed a lot, and wants to be with people now. She has been here just three weeks, and was following me around in the pasture without a lead rope on, minding her manners and was doing pretty well with the limited amount of ground work I have been able to do with her. 

Even when she was scared yesterday, when I would back off the pressure she would drop her head and start licking & chewing. I was able to get her mane braided and out of the injury site. But as her pain level increased she became increasingly flighty and scared. 

As for sugar - the vet recommended a mix of sugar and neosporin as an alternative to vetericyn. But I never could get water on the wound site to flush it. 

Curious greeted me today when I went to feed and check on her, but is more wary than usual and while she let me approach her, she didn't want to come to me when called like usual. I plan to spend the morning buttering her up, and hoping to built up points with her before the vet comes this afternoon.


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## chris30523 (Jun 11, 2005)

Wow that is an expensive vet! I had a mare treated for an open wound much larger than that. she was so awful for the vet he had to hand dart her to sedate her . The wound was irrigated ,and treated with scarlett oil ,tetanus shot, antibiotics to put in her feed, and bute and it was 225.00. Hope it turns out to be cheaper than you are thinking.


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## Ohiogal (Mar 15, 2007)

If she were mine, I'd give her enough Bute to get her comfortable, and then work on the hosing. I'd have her in a stall and haltered until I worked through the 'catching' issues. If she doesn't stand tied, put 2 halters on her, and tie her to a stout post and let her figure that out first. Once she respects being tied, and can stand with hay and be relaxed, and is out of the initial pain, you can then safely work on her.
Anything other than this is asking for trouble. Good luck and be safe!


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## Wags (Jun 2, 2002)

The cost is based on a quote from the vet. My regular vet is closer, but recovering from knee surgery. This vet is coming from the next county over.

I just came back in from grooming Curious and she let me approach and groom the injured side and stood relaxed (not tied, no lead rope) as long as I kept at least 5-6 inches away from the injury. I will go back out in another hour and repeat that. Going to work up to the wound site slowly as she is comfortable with it, and then maybe try a little warm water. I don't want her to be all worked up again when the vet comes this afternoon, so I'm working at a slow pace.

In my previous experience I would have just snubbed her up to a post and be done with it, but I'm older and gentler now and given her past history of abuse I don't think that is the safest way to proceed for either her or me.


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## DaniR1968 (May 24, 2008)

Here's something to try re tying. Use a lounge line or rope that is long. Loop in once through the ring or over whatever you want to tie her to. She will panic and set back and find no resistance because the rope will just slide out. Most won't back up the length of the rope. When they stop, bring them back up, take most of the slack out and go back to whatever you were doing. 

Once they are pretty comfortable with that, loop it a second time. There will be a little resistance but not much. You keep going like that looping it once more creating a little more resistance until the horse is comfortable enough to tie. It's a slow process but the horse learns there is nothing to fight.


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## Joshie (Dec 8, 2008)

Once she's healed working on standing tied would be my first course of action. I'd tie her somewhere sturdy and leave her there for a while. That's what we've done to teach our boys patience. 

I'm not trying to be mean but are you sure this is the girl for you? Without tons of recent experience I wouldn't want a to keep a horse so difficult to handle. After a month of training our horse was good on trail rides with our then ten year old. She was able to back him and ride with and without a saddle with no problem.


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## farmgirl6 (May 20, 2011)

sounds like you just got this horse, she has been through alot, this is one more thing for her and you to deal with. Maybe tackle this one thing at a time, right now she has a wound that needs some care, have you any portable panels?, can you make a sturdy temporary stock to secure her while you treat? then she can shimmy, noodle about and act silly without hurting you or her, leave you free to give the wound a good treatment and address the tie issue later at your leisure. Over the years I have found horses get themselves worked up when they can carry on, reacting to your reactions, sometimes just securing them someway besides the halter so you are comfortable and ignoring silliness while you treat goes a long way to settling them down - but it must be real sturdy or more problems than it can help.


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

farmgirl6 said:


> sounds like you just got this horse, she has been through alot, this is one more thing for her and you to deal with. Maybe tackle this one thing at a time, right now she has a wound that needs some care, have you any portable panels?, can you make a sturdy temporary stock to secure her while you treat? then she can shimmy, noodle about and act silly without hurting you or her, leave you free to give the wound a good treatment and address the tie issue later at your leisure. Over the years I have found horses get themselves worked up when they can carry on, reacting to your reactions, sometimes just securing them someway besides the halter so you are comfortable and ignoring silliness while you treat goes a long way to settling them down - but it must be real sturdy or more problems than it can help.


How would you make a temporary sturdy stock out of portable panels? Sounds like it could cause worse injuries than the original.


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

I've found that pinching them behind a gate works fairly well and I've done the similar with panels but you do need a solid fence to work from.


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## Wags (Jun 2, 2002)

Blessedly the rain let up just as the vet got here this afternoon and didn't start up again until she was leaving. 

The wound was more serious than I thought. It went through a couple of muscle layers and a nerve was clipped too. She is stitched up now, with a small hole left for drainage. She did well under the standing sedation and just leaned her head into my arm and seemed to take comfort in my presence.









Starting the sewing up.









Finished but not quite out from under the effect of sedation.


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## GrannyCarol (Mar 23, 2005)

Glad you could get her taken care of! She sure is pretty and good luck with her training and rehab.


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## DaniR1968 (May 24, 2008)

Glad you got the vet out and had it taken care of.


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## Tiempo (May 22, 2008)

Looking good, she is a pretty mare!

Get those T posts capped though or you could be looking at more of the same or worse


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## Wags (Jun 2, 2002)

Yes, going to be getting them capped as soon as possible.


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## farmgirl6 (May 20, 2011)

LisaInN.Idaho said:


> How would you make a temporary sturdy stock out of portable panels? Sounds like it could cause worse injuries than the original.


depends on how you secure it, a portable fence panel is designed to hold large animals - doesn't sound like her horse is rearing or lunging or leaping, just skittering away...the gate idea is good, but as I stated, it needs to be sturdy...the idea being, forget trying to teach her to tie and treat her at once, use a different method of containment. sounds like she did good..wondered about that wound, it looked pretty bad to me, not suprised it need repair and stitches..


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## lamoncha lover (Mar 1, 2009)

I am guessing she is going to be like my mare..once you break through her barriers she will give you her heart. I also think you being with her and giving her support through her vet visit is going to help push that bond.


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## Wags (Jun 2, 2002)

lamoncha lover said:


> I am guessing she is going to be like my mare..once you break through her barriers she will give you her heart. I also think you being with her and giving her support through her vet visit is going to help push that bond.


I am praying that is the case. 

Hubby is being his usual passive-aggressive self and raising strong objections about the cost of the horses and the fact that I "won't even be able to ride her for weeks and weeks". If he would have objected this strongly BEFORE I got the horses, I wouldn't have gotten them. But he didn't, and it was discussed, including a budget. 

It doesn't seem fair to them or us (my daughter and I) to get them and then turn around and then send them down the road (sell/return to rescue) after just a month. Had a big blow up about it last night, and he said he was cutting the budget for the horses - and it was already bare bones. So I'm feeling very discouraged today. All I can pray for now is that my goats kid with lots of doe kids in a few weeks and that they all sell quickly. That will at least give me a little extra to work with, after I set aside the portion for the annual goat feed bill.


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

I don't have any answers for you and I do hope you find some middle ground on this one.


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## Sededl (Jan 14, 2011)

Pretty mare. Hope she heals well.

Just a observation, almost all of my previous horses have been rescues, many that suffered abuse and neglect,

I have found that calm and consistant handling is best, but you also can't always baby them. It almost handicaps them in a way. 

Good luck with your girl, she sure is pretty


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## farmergirl (Aug 2, 2005)

Wags said:


> I am praying that is the case.
> 
> Hubby is being his usual passive-aggressive self and raising strong objections about the cost of the horses and the fact that I "won't even be able to ride her for weeks and weeks". If he would have objected this strongly BEFORE I got the horses, I wouldn't have gotten them. But he didn't, and it was discussed, including a budget.
> 
> It doesn't seem fair to them or us (my daughter and I) to get them and then turn around and then send them down the road (sell/return to rescue) after just a month. Had a big blow up about it last night, and he said he was cutting the budget for the horses - and it was already bare bones. So I'm feeling very discouraged today. All I can pray for now is that my goats kid with lots of doe kids in a few weeks and that they all sell quickly. That will at least give me a little extra to work with, after I set aside the portion for the annual goat feed bill.


I am sorry you are catching flack from the hubster on this. I have had similar, though not as serious, reactions from my hubby a couple of times in the past when I took on animals that turned out to be more work than first assumed. 
We don't have those arguments anymore because we have come to an understanding that the animal's needs become primary once we have agreed to take them in.
Your DH needs to switch gears and get onboard with the horse thing. He doesn't have to groom, muck stalls, ride, etc.., but he does need to be supportive of you and not make a stink over the care you are giving the horses.
Honestly, the fact that he has announced that he wants to reduce the horse budget at a time when you obviously need to spend time with a trainer is troubling. Does he not realize that training is a safety issue? Does he have no compassion for an animal that has sustained a wound that needs to be surgically tended?
Time for a family meeting and getting onto the same page.

Good luck with the horse and your hubs.


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## CheerfulMom4 (May 21, 2008)

Our husbands must be related! I have bought/sold quite a few horses because he was so awful about it it ruined all of the fun.
I will tell you what made all of the difference for me. The horses I had in the past were all rescues and on the younger side. In other words, they needed work, training and I admit I got to absorbed in making them right and useful. They kind of became a quest for me.
Now..we have 2 mares one 15 and one 16. Of course they still need ridden, they still need attention but a 15 year old been there done that horse is nothing like a 4 year old with issues.
For my hubby this is night and day. He was the first one to say "call the vet" when my horse started coughing. When our other mare was lame guess who told me to call the farrier to see if it was an abcess. He just got done building us a round pen. 

I'm not saying you didn't need to have the vet see your mare or that you should sell her and buy something older. Just telling you what has made a difference for me believe me I have been fighting the "horse fight" for the last 10 years.


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## Wags (Jun 2, 2002)

CheerfulMom4 said:


> Our husbands must be related! I have bought/sold quite a few horses because he was so awful about it it ruined all of the fun.
> I will tell you what made all of the difference for me. The horses I had in the past were all rescues and on the younger side. In other words, they needed work, training and I admit I got to absorbed in making them right and useful. They kind of became a quest for me.
> Now..we have 2 mares one 15 and one 16. Of course they still need ridden, they still need attention but a 15 year old been there done that horse is nothing like a 4 year old with issues.
> For my hubby this is night and day. He was the first one to say "call the vet" when my horse started coughing. When our other mare was lame guess who told me to call the farrier to see if it was an abcess. He just got done building us a round pen.
> ...


You may be on to something there. Not being a horse person he undoubtedly feels intimidated by them, and possibly a bit jealous as well since my energy and attention has gone to the horses, and now that we have kidding season upon us, most all my time is spent around the barn.

We sold my daughters horse Friday, and the plan is that I am going to be returning this horse to the rescue when she is all healed up and picking up a couple of much tamer 12-13h ponies for us. Hers is definitely kid safe, mine will need a bit of a tune up. 

But a tune-up on a mature, calm pony is a whole different ball game than trying to keep up with a 4yr old. And the 6" less in height makes it much easier for little short me to get on and off. The meds that made me think I could act like a spring chick have quickly lost their efficacy so I'm back to square one dealing with pain and lack of mobility. Extensive round-penning is just not going to be something my body can tolerate. 

Hubby says he is on board with the proposed changes. Before I got my horse I had talked about looking for a stocky pony in the 12-13 hand range. My daughter had been telling him that would be a good size for him to learn to ride on, so maybe he was secretly wanting to learn to ride but didn't want to admit to it. So he throws a fit so we go back to looking for something that won't intimidate him to try riding on. Just a theory - sometimes I so don't get how his head works. (Why oh why can't men just admit when something scares or intimidates them?)

My daughter was a little upset at first about selling her horse, but after the plan was explained to her and after thinking on it for a while she came up to me and said, "Sometimes you just have to come at your dreams from a different angle." Pretty smart for soon to be 8 year old.


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