Oh my goodness. You have my kind of luck.
I’m glad you guys are okay but your poor truck 
Is there any vets from the clinic that can come to you guys? I know it’s not ideal but CSU and some of the other hospital vets will travel around here.
Or hopefully you can get a ride there. If I were there I would definitely take Petey for you!
Ugh. I’m glad you are OK!
Must have been a big deer. Thats quite a lot of damage!
This is my biggest fear. Glad you are both ok.
I was able to rebook Petey for next Tuesday. Several friends have very generously offered to let me borrow their trucks or to haul him there, which is wonderful! I am a little nervous driving someone else’s truck after this, but I have had my insurance policy for 20 years and never needed to use it before so I guess that’s a pretty good track record.
I do have some concern that I’m going to go to all this trouble getting him there and the vet will look at him and say yep he’s fine. Which on the one hand would obviously be the best outcome, but on the other hand I’m not entirely sure I’d trust it (prob can’t get in to see any of the vets I’ve worked with before) and it would make this whole thing seem so pointless.
On the plus side, after 4 hours of “your tow is delayed” messages, my truck is finally arriving at a shop! Hopefully the insurance adjuster can look at it soon and get everything started.
And yes, it was a darn big deer. Two of them burst out of a treeline and leapt down an embankment, then straight across the road. I just missed the first and nailed the second full-on. I never saw the deer again after that because my hood flew open, so I just had to come to a blind stop in a straight line. Hubby brought a gun and went looking for her in case she needed to be put out of her misery, but she was nowhere to be found, except for all the hair in my radiator. 
Ah you poor soul, so often when we are dealing with a stressful situation, even more stress piles up on top…something has got to change for the better for you and your lovely horse. I love his red gold chestnut color and almost flaxen adornments
Oh, I’m so sorry! I am glad nothing worse happened!
I can’t believe it’s only been 2 weeks!? It feels like at least a month that the horses have been stuck inside. My TB spends so much time gazing out at the field instead of eating hay that I had to buy alfalfa cubes to try and keep his weight up. (Yes, I have tried turning him out alone and it only lasts about 5 minutes before he’s galloping around frantically.) Meanwhile Petey seems to be attempting a jail break by chewing through all the fence boards even though he always has hay in front of him.
I thought maybe the missing ingredient was social interaction, so I tried taking down the fence between him and the 26-year-old. Unfortunately Petey’s version of social interaction was neither fun for the old man, nor conducive to his healing 
:
poor old man 
Well, Petey looks sound.
Your old horse looks like he could use a better friend. 
I just laughed so loud that I scared my outdoor cat from eating his food!! Omg he is so stinking cute and has the cutest Iiii’mmm gonna get yoouu faces!!!
At least he looks fancy while being a tool to his friend.
Petey is certainly weighting the right hind now 
.
Susan
So……not a great update. I borrowed a truck to take him to the vet school today and he was sound on the RH (yay!). Best guess is that he pulled a muscle. There is nothing to block or try to diagnose today.
However, Petey is mildly neurological (grade 1-2). Neck X-rays had not changed since his PPE and didn’t show anything of obvious significance. They drew blood for EPM, Vitamin E levels, and an EDM biomarker that apparently may or may not be useful. Depending on those results, the next steps might be a myelogram and CSF fluid tests.
I’m trying not to break down at least until after I drive us home safely, but I have a terrible feeling that it’s EDM.
I really think if this goes wrong I will not ever have the fortitude to buy another horse.
Also I wish I had my truck because I didn’t think to bring any tissues.
I hope it’s something simple.
I’m in the same boat with my young mare. If it turns out to be something serious, I need a break.
Oh my god. I somehow missed this original thread Libby, I am so sorry.
I’m sending you the world’s biggest, fattest, most obnoxiously noisy jingles. Like cosmic proportions.
When you are ready to talk about it, what did the vet see that he graded neuro? And I don’t remember, is that bump on Petey’s belly normal? I wish I was closer so I could leave my truck with you AND bring you some tissues. 
So… My old vet once said that almost any horse can look neurologic under the right circumstances. She was doing a tail pull on my horse who had navicular and he showed as neurologic but it was his feet and hocks that did him in. Also, I think A LOT of horses might have a little EPM. The feed through meds are wonderful.
I heard the same thing about my horse … and then when his stifles felt better, he was no longer “neurologic”. Please don’t get too far ahead in your thinking on this.
I am so sorry to hear this and am sending massive jingles
This 100%. Don’t panic too much yet. I’ll give 2 of my own examples. One was my horse with neck stuff who totally failed the tail pull test when he had ulcers. Just because of ulcers. We did wind up going down a whole battery of tests after finding neck stuff which was also necessary (and deemed WNL), but his tail pull test was totally good after a couple weeks on Gastrogard.
And then my current problem child who had the broken scapula. And asthma. And lumbar changes and SI injury resulting in changes. When his SI and low back is really bad, he will stand a bit or a lot cross legged behind, especially when resting a foot. He has a very strong tail but would move in a way that made me and some vets say hmmm. Oh, and don’t forget falling to his knees just about any time he tripped, including putting us both on the ground after a jump once. We tested Vit E, Se, for EPM, etc. etc. And it was just his SI, because making that diagnosis and treating made all the rest of the stuff go away. Also getting his asthma under control helped his overall posture and soreness as well.
I totally get what you are feeling right now. I’m probably one more catastrophe away from giving up on horses myself.
Oh dear. I totally understand your feelings. But I do agree with others to try and stay positive because it really could be so many things. And it really could be something manageable or treatable.
Huge huge jingles and positive vibes your way for Petey and you.
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