Hock Injury

I had to travel to Tucson on Saturday, so I left the "bat-phone" with Debbie in case someone called about an injured horse. When I returned from Tucson, she was gone, so I knew something was up. It turned out to be that one of our horses, Journey, had gotten tangled up in an electric fence wire and injured his hock pretty badly. I'm not sure how he managed to get into the wire as it was on top of the fence. The wire was actually one of those poly-cords that is thick enough to see, but doesn't catch the wind like tape does. Surprisingly, the cord did not break, although in this case, I wish it had. 

Journey resting in the shade.

Journey had to be heavily sedated by the mil vet so that the wound could be cleaned and sutured. Everything went wrong. None of the lanterns or flashlights worked, so Debbie had to use her car lights to illuminate the operating area. The clippers were not fully charged, so they kept dying while they were trying to shave his leg. They had trouble keeping him upright due to the sedation, and at one point, he fell and rubbed dirt into the wound that they had just spent an hour cleaning. After several hours of working in the dark, they finally managed to get him bandaged and put away for the night. Not a great way to spend a Saturday night.  

Today when I arrived at work, Journey was laying on the ground. He would occasionally try to sit up, but would just lay down again. I could tell that he had been laying down for quite a while based on the marks in the dirt and because he had manure under his tail. I put a halter on him and compelled him to get up, but it was extremely painful for him. He couldn't put any weight on his injured leg and just stood there trembling. I gave him his medicine and breakfast and left him alone.  He manged to eat some and drink, but just decided to stand in the shade and rest. I could tell he was in pain because his respiration rate was high.   

The unwrapped wound site.

This afternoon the vet and Debbie returned to change the bandage. Debbie managed to get most of the bandage off before the vet arrived, but the final wrap required a little sedation. Journey took it pretty well and the wound is looking okay. He will be down for a while, but hopefully will make a full recover.