I couldn’t make this up if I had tried. So here’s the latest update on my filly. A couple weeks ago she had gotten to the point of telling us with her actions that she was in fact MUCH healthier and was starting to drive my farm owners crazy. She had been doing fine in the small turnout by herself but now she was aggravated that she could see the gelding (who had always been in sight) and was now running in frustration at not being able to get to them. This while also coming back into rampant heat. So we talked to the vet and moved up her recheck. Happily, for everyone, she was cleared to now move on to turnout life and indeed 2 weeks ago moved to a friend’s farm to be in a mares herd and relax for a while.
This morning however we hit a setback. Now the curious part is that in our lives with horses I often believed that the oddest things won’t possibly happen twice because, well, they’re odd. How foolish I was in my thinking. This morning Rocket presented to her caretakers as 3 legged lame, and showing a deep but narrow punctured hole into the meat of her right thigh. The barn manager contacted me asap. I got my vet out asap. Upon arrival my vet initially thought she’d broken her leg, but thankfully this was disproven. What she has is simply a very deep puncture and some possible cellulitis in play now. She was checked last night and all was well so this was only 12 hours old or less. Rocket’s got a healing game plan, she unfortunately has to move to a layup barn 4 miles from that barn because there aren’t any empty stalls, but this is just as well as the barn manager is a dear friend who may be battling pneumonia if not a nasty lung infection. So less work for her is a good thing.
As I was looking at the pictures after knowing the emergency was over I got to thinking. This was a VERY similar injury/incident to what happened to another mare of mine in 1994. That mare was weeks away from returning to work after time off for a bow. She too was prone to cycling in heat quite often while living out. That mare was found in the field standing immobile and refusing to come for grain. If you knew her, you’d know that was in fact the end of the world. So they went up to her to investigate. Once at her side they found her with a very deep and wide puncture in her right thigh. That mare, “Genie,” was a stoic girl and beyond not moving was not in shock. She was brought to the barn and when the vet came found that the hole was about 14" deep and roughly 3" across. Nasty stuff. But she too had managed to avoid touching every important bone, arteries etc. in the area. She was treated and with time came back to full health. I was told by the vet what they believed may have done it and while it surprised me it made sense. The culprit was suspected to have been a deer. That was a boarding farm so the other boarders were put on alert. Amazingly a deer with an antler matching the wound tract that was covered in blood was found dead in the woods by the farm owner a couple days later. I wouldn’t have believed it had I not seen it.
So I called my vet back and explained my thoughts and asked if it was possible that Rocket too had been at the unfortunate end of a meeting with a deer antler. She stopped and realized as she thought about it that it would explain a lot. And it’s a lot better of a possible outcome than if there is a stick in there with bits of bark way up high. So maybe it was, it seems plausible. Maybe it wasn’t. But it’s interesting that 2 of my mares were both receiving of punctures in roughly the same part of their body, 22 years apart in different states and seasons.
For now Rocket is being heavily medicated and watched while on stall rest. She’ll be rechecked Monday and we’re crossing our fingers that she has no lasting injuries to cause the lameness to stay. Jingles are much appreciated and by all means watch out for your horny deer.
Emily
