Looking to wallow in communal misery

[WalnutGroveEq]

I can’t be the only person with a horse hell bent on gravely maiming and injuring herself. Had a very close call with her last night but she managed to get away with not a scratch on her.

This same horse has cost me a fortune in vet bills over the years from self inflicted injuries. Just last year she hurt herself being a brainless thoroughbred and she had 4 months off and lots of stall rest which of course made her crazier.

We have a safe facility and she gets tons of turnout. We try the best to think ahead and prevent any disasters, but she seems to just go out of her way to get hurt.

I’m well aware that horses will be horses and injuries are unavoidable, but I’m throwing a pity party for myself for being cursed with a horse with a bit of a death wish. I figure I can’t be the only one so feel free to share your stories and experiences. Maybe I won’t feel so alone.

[trubandloki]

I can not think of a good story to share (darn brain) but believe me I have had plenty of them. Safe fencing, lots of turn out but somehow they still manage to make me spend money on the emergency vet.
I agree with you, it is very frustrating.

[clanter]

the only way we could control the TB mare my daughter rescued was that the mare teamed up with the herd leader who due to age was a slow mover. The mare worships the ground he stands upon and will be at his side or nearby almost always. Now she just dances around him rather than running full speed into a gate or a fence

The mare’s brain is program for one gear … full speed forward

[sophie]

I sympathize!
When I got my Ottb mare, she was straight off the track, 4 years old, and hot hot hot.
It seemed that she did something to herself in turnout every week. And she was turned out by herself on grass.
And the littlest scratch on her legs would immediately blow up like a balloon. sigh. At that time I had Furazone, plastic wrap, and polo wraps at the ready at all times.

To try to prevent some of it, I used to fit her with bell boots, pastern wraps,galloping boots on all 4 legs.

Things she did over the years:

• impale herself on a stick in her paddock. Right between the front legs. And acted like she was DYING. Fortunately my very no non-sense vet and a few SMZs did wonders.
• Get her nose stuck on her water bucket holder in her stall, and tore her nostril off. When I got to the barn after a frantic call from the barn owner, I found her spooking at the big flap hanging from her nose and spraying blood everywhere. Vet did a great job stitching it back up, but she promptly tore off all the stitches.
  So now, she is missing part of her nostril and needs a nose net during bug season.

And I’m not counting all the little scratches, cuts, wounds, etc. she inflicted to herself over the years.

But hey, she’s 20 now, and moving and feeling like a 5 year old still.

[WalnutGroveEq]

@sophie

I sympathize!
When I got my Ottb mare, she was straight off the track, 4 years old, and hot hot hot.
It seemed that she did something to herself in turnout every week. And she was turned out by herself on grass.
And the littlest scratch on her legs would immediately blow up like a balloon. sigh. At that time I had Furazone, plastic wrap, and polo wraps at the ready at all times.

To try to prevent some of it, I used to fit her with bell boots, pastern wraps,galloping boots on all 4 legs.

Things she did over the years:

• impale herself on a stick in her paddock. Right between the front legs. And acted like she was DYING. Fortunately my very no non-sense vet and a few SMZs did wonders.
• Get her nose stuck on her water bucket holder in her stall, and tore her nostril off. When I got to the barn after a frantic call from the barn owner, I found her spooking at the big flap hanging from her nose and spraying blood everywhere. Vet did a great job stitching it back up, but she promptly tore off all the stitches.
  So now, she is missing part of her nostril and needs a nose net during bug season.

And I’m not counting all the little scratches, cuts, wounds, etc. she inflicted to herself over the years.

But hey, she’s 20 now, and moving and feeling like a 5 year old still.

Omg the nostril thing. Yikes! My 6 year old sliced his nose open clear through to his mouth last summer and healing that was a nightmare. The he ripped out the stitch in his mouth and the hole would get plugged with grass. It got infected numerous times and but now you can hardly see the scar.

It’s nice to hear that others have had similar and it sounds like worse experinces. I should probably count myself lucky.

[Gestalt]

My ottb mare was similar. The farrier said she was a “bute baby, and once a bute baby always a bute baby.”

What helped her in every way is when I had her on a strict exercise/training program. That girl required some hella-ish exercise to keep her on an even keel and the training provided her brain with stimulation too. (It’s like the people with border collies say, you can’t just run them physically tired, you also have to get them mentally tired)

Even when my mare had some banged up parts and maybe wasn’t quite right she had to work. Because if I didn’t work her whatever was “off” would only get worse from her incessant play.

[Renn_aissance]

My kid sister’s horse punctured his hock a couple millimeters away from his joint capsule.

The horse she had before that swallowed a 12" thorny branch.

Sounds like those horses- both wonderful animals- shouldn’t meet yours.

Best of luck. Some horses were meant to live in a bubble wrap suit.

[She_s_Pure_Gold]

OP, you are not alone. I won’t go into my long detailed 6 year history with my horse and all of his ailments, but suffice to say that I’ve actually asked the large animal hospital that we go to if they give “frequent flyer” discounts (the answer was no…) :lol: :no: When I bought him, an experienced event horse, my plan was to start off at BN and move up to novice and training over the next several years…and we’re still at BN. And he’s not getting any younger. Granted, part of the lack of progress over the past 2 years is because DH and I decided to have a baby…but still…I was hoping to get to novice and training before having a baby, it didn’t happen.

So have a glass of wine, and let it out. I feel your pain.

[Blugal]

I sympathise, used to have an accident prone TB too. I resorted to turning him out in Cashel Boomer bandages and bell boots full time.

[NancyM]

I have one who has continually attempted suicide by slitting his wrists. He has used different methods of doing this. If there’s a way, he finds it. Fortunately, so far, he has healed up well, and is amazingly sound, a miracle to modern equine science! I had him sold once, and after I agreed to the sale, he did the first suicide attempt THAT NIGHT. Put a stop to THAT plan.

[Sport]

Fog is 32 and has too many to count. Interesting reading is going through his vet file. When we got him, seemed like he abscessed just looking at a stone. Finally got over that.
Then lymphangitis, followed by leg through a fence, followed by stabbing his shoulder on something (betadine on a grey during show season is a lot of fun),went into retirement due to pulling a cruciate ligament. I can’t recall all of his injuries.
He is the best patient though. I think he is 32 because he is preserved from the inside out with all the various medications over the years.

[Proffie]

My horse came off a 3-week layup for a stifle injury last week… vet gave me the all-clear to ride him as of last Friday. Bolted out of work and off to the barn that night, caught him, brought him into the barn, crosstied him, grabbed my brushes. Start grooming, only to find a gnarly lump/gash where he must have been kicked. EXACTLY where the girth would rest.

Almost a week later now, and it’s healed up enough to saddle him as of today. I’m terrified to go out tomorrow and see what he’s done this time!

[pony4me]

I have a gorgeous nineteen year old TB sitting in my pasture. He should still be a show horse but he managed to get himself permanently retired a couple of years age. I don’t miss the vet bills.

[tnscvaga]

@pony4me

I have a gorgeous nineteen year old TB sitting in my pasture. He should still be a show horse but he managed to get himself permanently retired a couple of years age. I don’t miss the vet bills.

Me too, mine’s 17 this year. I just gave up. I know now that some of his injuries were caused by the neighbor’s dog running him in turnout (when I wasn’t home)… at least I didn’t have a $15K colic bill like the horse owners on the other side of the neighbor’s dog.

[sophie]

@pony4me

I have a gorgeous nineteen year old TB sitting in my pasture. He should still be a show horse but he managed to get himself permanently retired a couple of years age. I don’t miss the vet bills.

Don’t speak too fast - a pasture can be a mine field for some horses !

[lifeishorsesarelove]

I once leased a horse like this. Whether it was minor, like not keeping all 4 shoes on, (and it had to be 4), minor gas colic from his uncontrollable cribbing (monthly, at least), hock arthritis acting up, and the usual hot house flower boo boos leaving him 3 legged lame…
If it wasn’t one of those, it was getting stabbed alongside his barrel with a tractor hay spike (he ran into it), cementing his fly mask to an eyeball with mud because he was too dumb to shut his eye while rolling, getting stuck in a hay hut because all 16.2 of him tried to climb into it, getting his tail stuck to a burr bush and then refusing to move because it pulled his tail to badly (we had to cut most of it off), or injuring his penis in the leg straps on his blanket (don’t ask, nobody saw and nobody knows, but he is now in blankets with tail cords only).

He was special. His owner adored him and good for him she did, because she couldn’t afford half those vet bills and lived off ramen for him. He was a total hit or miss under saddle, too, either a perfect campaigner packer or a hot mess that would tank you over jumps when you were just trying to warm up and generally try to kill you with his crazy.

I walked away from that one, real glad he wasn’t mine. You’re definitely not alone. Every time my mare is a tool I think of him and count my blessings because she could be much worse.

[Magicboy]

Not just OTTB…some are just accident prone. I’ve known some owners like that, too,

[Texarkana]

I saved up a small nest egg to get a TB breeding program off the ground. My budget was meager; what I was expecting to find was a young mare with good conformation and a proven race record, but not enough commercial black-type to be valuable. The idea was if breeding didn’t work out, I could ride her or pursue sporthorse breeding options.

Then I came across a 19 year old proven stakes-producing broodmare from a strong family being dumped as her current owners got out of the biz. I tried to resist, but her price dropped scary low and I figured it was meant to be. HA!

Within the first 30 days, the mare sustained an open coffin bone fracture just happily cantering in the field. I wanted to euth her; my country vet said “aw shucks, this isn’t that bad.” Spoiler alert- it was that bad. There went my nest egg + some.

Maresie survived after an expensive year of rehab and we embarked on trying to get one last foal from her. Second spoiler alert- I never got that foal. What I did get was a lot of wasted time and money on repro expenses.

And then there were the other fun vet bills. Like the time she reared in the trailer on the way to the breeding shed. Fracturing her sagital crest and needing the bone shards surgically removed wasn’t enough; she had to take it a step further with swelling on her brain with terrifying neuro side effects.

Or the time she managed to tear her hamstring. Luckily that layup was short compared to the fracture.

Then there was this summer when she got hung up on gawd only knows what and lacerated her stifles on both sides…

I could go on. I won’t.

This mare has 900 lives; each one more expensive than the last!

[sophie]

@Texarkana

I saved up a small nest egg to get a TB breeding program off the ground. My budget was meager; what I was expecting to find was a young mare with good conformation and a proven race record, but not enough commercial black-type to be valuable. The idea was if breeding didn’t work out, I could ride her or pursue sporthorse breeding options.

Then I came across a 19 year old proven stakes-producing broodmare from a strong family being dumped as her current owners got out of the biz. I tried to resist, but her price dropped scary low and I figured it was meant to be. HA!

Within the first 30 days, the mare sustained an open coffin bone fracture just happily cantering in the field. I wanted to euth her; my country vet said “aw shucks, this isn’t that bad.” Spoiler alert- it was that bad. There went my nest egg + some.

Maresie survived after an expensive year of rehab and we embarked on trying to get one last foal from her. Second spoiler alert- I never got that foal. What I did get was a lot of wasted time and money on repro expenses.

And then there were the other fun vet bills. Like the time she reared in the trailer on the way to the breeding shed. Fracturing her sagital crest and needing the bone shards surgically removed wasn’t enough; she had to take it a step further with swelling on her brain with terrifying neuro side effects.

Or the time she managed to tear her hamstring. Luckily that layup was short compared to the fracture.

Then there was this summer when she got hung up on gawd only knows what and lacerated her stifles on both sides…

I could go on. I won’t.

This mare has 900 lives; each one more expensive than the last!

Oh my…
You have all my sympathy.