Is this what you are referring to?
No matter what the turnout situation is the barn should have good , safe fencing and be aware of what young boarders are doing. Especially when it is someone else’s horse.
If for no other reason than to cover their financial interests when a horse or someone gets hurt.
My concern with an arrangement with any random boarder instead of a barn employee to do anything with your horse is that it can result in YOU paying that persons medical bills. Thats the primary potential liability I was referring to when I mentioned it upthread. Your horse knocks them over or pushes them into fence due to some freak situation, you can be held liable. Not only by them ( or their parents) but by their insurance company.
Its just not a good idea. Here the horse suffered, next time it could be the typically distracted 16 year old. Sh#t happens with horses.
This wasn’t barn work. It was more of a favor, so her horse wasn’t outside alone. The fencing in the paddock she was supposed to be in is completely fine. I’m still not quite sure why she moved her that day.
She is on stall rest, stall is cleaned twice a day right now, and she is being hand walked for however long she can handle it daily as well, sometimes twice a day for shorter periods.
The swelling is going down for sure. Her legs were still a bit puffy today, but no longer hot all over. Some heat near the lacerations still, but nothing incredible. She was definitely feeling better as she really wanted to do some trotting in hand today. This mare has a great work ethic, and I think she is eager to get back to it.
She is stalled, but exercised 5-6 days a week. I regularly turn her out myself while I am there as well. Just the one pasture that she had a problem with has “iffy fencing.” The others are fine. She also gets turned out in the arena while stalls are being cleaned. So she is not cooped up 24/7.
While it’s not ideal, it’s what I can afford right now.
The fence is probably about 4ft high, maybe a bit higher in some spots. It’s missing a top board above the woven field fence I guess. I wasn’t aware of that problem.
She can see, just not super well. In my experience, watching her move around, and doing all her training, she tends to be nearsighted, for lack of a better term. She can see things if she is close enough too them, but not well if they’re far away. More than likely she got ripping around and didn’t see it until it was too late, tried to clear it and got hung up. The injuries would suggest her front right leg got hung up first, and as she crawled over it, she got clotheslined and started kicking with her back legs.
This mare has been turned out 24/7 before, stalled 12 out 12, and stalled throughout her life. She has been injured more often and with far more severity while turned out 12 or more hours. She fractured her right radius on full turnout. She punctured her chest while on full turnout. She was kicked in the face in full turnout. Sht happens with horses, but to say that these injuries happen because I don’t turnout? I didn’t will this on her. She had been turned out for days prior to this incident. Based on your logic, this should have happened on day 1, not in the middle of day 5 lol (PS I re-wrote this part like 6 times to make sure I don’t sound like a btch. I’m really trying not to come off that way.)
She couldn’t tolerate wrapping, today maybe, but before today was a definite no go. Her legs are improving with daily hand walking, gentle washing and redressing the wounds. 
Some swelling still, but the heat has gone down immensely. I am hoping the trend continues!
As a fully insured, professional instructor, I totally understand where you’re coming from. While the gal is a minor, she has her parents permission/supervision, and isn’t a greenhorn with horses. Plus I’ve personally spent over a thousand training hours on this horse to make her a productive citizen. She is not a babyish 5 year old, that is pushy and disrespectful. She is often mistaken for a middle aged gelding by people who don’t know her LMAO
Edited to add: I fully understand that horses will be horses though, and that mistakes happen. The only ones handling my horse now are myself, and two of the owners granddaughters who are paid to handle her either by me, or by the barn itself.
Honestly, I have zero intentions to ask for financial help with this. I do not think that would be the best course of action. There was no intent, no malice. Just not the best decisions made. We have talked quite a bit since, and we are okay. She’s been beating herself up over this, I don’t need to make that worse for her.
This is kind of baffling me. While the OP is concerned about liability and naturally fretting over the horse’s injuries. I’m not quite getting how horse’s vision is so poor that she jumps out of a pasture that has lower fencing. I’m also not sure why a vet didn’t come see the horse for these injuries especially since the legs are swollen. if the fencing was splintered in any way I’d be concerned of a small puncture wound which are often a concern for developing cellulitis. Though I will admit I am one to call the vet vs. wait and see, and I live in an area where we have a large vet population so it’s easy to get a vet out.
Based on the information posted, and I’m sure there are more details I’m not aware of, but I think there’s some shared liability here, certainly it’s starts with the teen who for some inexplicable reason turned the horses out in a field she was asked not to; the barn owner for having inadequate fencing, and finally the OP for not having the vet come to check out the horse’s injuries and place on any appropriate medications.
I hope your mare heals up without any lasting issues, and no doubt the 16 year old has learned a valuable lesson, at your horse’s expense.
Glad the mare’s doing better. Sounds like you’re treating the teen in a good way. Please let us know when your horse is back in work
I’m also confused about the injuries.
Why put a horse on stall test for superficial scratches?
If she has swelling, why not get her out moving in a pasture? Why stick her in a stall to stock up?
If they are superficial, why is the horse so painful she can’t be bandaged/wrapped?
She sounds very accident prone. I can’t help but wonder if the inconsistent turn out makes that worse. Some horses with limited turn out go nuts when they finally do get turn out. I’ve found horses are calmer outside the more they are out. I also just feel bad for horses that are stalled 22-23 hours of the day.
Well, if theres no turn out, the stall would be it, no?
In many places turnout is a luxury or simply non existent. Its just not there. Those who want to have horses learn to compromise and work it out.
I didn’t understand this at first either, but then I realized that the supposition is that horse probably couldn’t see the fence top at a distance, and in tearing around misjudged that the fence was there until it was too late. This can happen even when the fence is at an appropriate height, so I’m not sure that’s really the issue.
I would want the vet out, but that’s me.
Wild Goose Chase, I am very sorry about your horse’s injuries and I hope she will heal well. Your post hit a nerve with me because I lost my beloved horse when a fellow boarder evidently took a ‘shortcut’ with my horse on a slippery slope when she was turning him out and he fell. I don’t know why she was even handling him. Nobody called to tell me until later that day when I got a call because someone thought he looked colicky. I flew to the barn and I could tell right away his symptoms weren’t colic, but something was wrong so I called the vet. It was only when she arrived that someone told me he had slipped and fallen and ‘he didn’t get up right away’.
Many vet visits and x rays later, my wonderful vet discovered that he had chipped a bone and had developed a. joint infection. We went hard on the antibiotics but he was in pain, he was exhausted and couldn’t lie down and he was not a candidate for any type of surgery due to his heavy breed and age.
After one of the worst weeks of my life, running to the barn multiple times a day to and from my job to check on him, make sure he got his meds, and do Reiki on him, I looked at him one morning, bathed in sweat, leaning against the stall wall and I just knew it was time to put him out of his suffering. But it almost killed me. One simple error by another boarder, handling someone else’s horse, and I lost my beloved boy. I also had an enormous vet bill, but truly it was nothing compared to the trauma of losing my horse due to someone else’s negligence.
I’m glad your mare has just some cuts and bruises that will heal but I hope you will give that other boarder a very strong lesson on the importance of using care with someone else’s horse, and the damage she did to your horse because she did not listen to you. Wishing you both healing.
I haven’t revisited this thread in a while!
Goose is doing well. Back to riding lightly to recondition, before going into a training program for the winter. She scarred really quite bad from this, but they’re all closed and healed. I’m not sure if the hair will grow back or not. Luckily the worst of them are on her white socks, so I may be able to hide them in the ring next season with Shapley’s spray and baby powder 
I’m sorry to hear about your beloved horse. What a horrible situation. 
Good thing I contacted by vet right away huh? I sent photos and he didn’t feel it was necessary to come out. I’ve been caring for horses for 20 years, I have loads of experience in injury treatment and rehab. He said I could handle this no problem, but if we did have issues to notify him right away and he would come out.
What is the stuff people use for scars…mederma I think? Would shaving those areas and as silly as it may sound…exfoliating a couple times a week, maybe with a softer exfoliation glove, and then applying something like mederma over the bad scars, help at all for skin cell turnover and minimizing the scars? Also I think its horrible a judge would knock down a score based on looks vs athletic ability, but thats the horse world we live in! Good luck all around op!
Unless it’s a breed show where part of the score is what they look like or a Conformation class, its a blemish, not an unsoundness and should not have much, or any, influence on the score.
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