03.27.08

Horse unable to get up, scary incident

Posted in Horses for the horse crazy at 11:19 am by HorseGal

My friend Nora– who owns Buttercup, the beautiful Percheron draft cross that you met in one of my blogs– and I were sidewalking little Abby (Abby’s blog) around for her therapy riding outside and Buttercup was sitting in the sun, sunning herself. We got done about a half hour later and Cup was still sitting in the sun…

I was just leaving when Nora came out and asked me if I could help her. Buttercup couldn’t get up. She’d sit and then roll over on to her side and then sit up again. She tried to get up on her feet by herself, but just couldn’t. So, Nora pulled with the lead rope and I pushed on her back end (at the same time trying to stay out of the way of her flailing legs) and of course, there was no way the 2 of us could get that big girl up off the ground.

By now, Cup had been on the ground at least an hour and was attempting to get up less and less. And of course, all I could think was that it’s colic or that she’d broken a leg somehow. Nora thought it appeared to be a problem with her right hind leg. So, Nora called a few horse experts whom she knew would be able to come and help.

While Nora and I waited, I talked to Cup gently telling her what a good mare she was. Poor Nora. She was outwardly calm but very, very quiet. I know how much she loves that mare and you could see the pain she was feeling as she saw her beloved friend totally helpless. We couldn’t do a thing to help Buttercup.

Finally help arrived, but before they did anything, Nora was warned that “If the leg is broken, then you understand that it’s over right here and now”. Nora couldn’t speak, but just nodded. It was awful to hear those words and to see the pain in Nora’s face. But both Nora and I already knew that if the leg was broken, that this would be the end. Both of us were close to tears. (Cup is 26 years old).

Finally, after looking at the situation, the people assisting attached 3 lead ropes to her halter, one on the lower ring and 2 on the side and they all pulled her up opposite the side of the bad leg. And once she was up, she limped around for a few minutes but then… appeared fine! They listened to her stomach and didn’t hear anything unusual, so that was wonderful! [Ed.Note: if suspecting colic, you WANT to hear stomach noises, which indicate that the gut is still working and not "stopped up".]

And that very same leg that she couldn’t seem to put weight on earlier… it appeared to be just fine once she was up and moving around. So, the consensus was, that while she was sunning herself she had cut off the blood supply to her leg by the way she was sitting and it had gone to sleep. They gave her some Banamine [like Tums for horses, except stronger-- see comment below by Q.L.] once she was up. All was now well! Three days later, Buttercup was still doing great! Don’t you just love a happy ending?!!
Happy Trails!

Horse Gal

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