First a bit of background. We have a horse farm. Our friend of ours is a polo pro. He and his wife go to Canada every summer to vacation and escape the heat. He has about 30 polo horses. During the break in polo season (summer and winter) we bring 4-5 horses to our farm on a weekly rotation to keep them conditioned. We have been doing this for several years. This is some of what has happened to them in the past six weeks.
Days before leaving for their trip this summer, one of the polo horses died at the owner's farm. This horse was in his 40s and was still playing polo. Not unexpected considering his age, but still a sad thing to happen.
A couple of weeks later we had five horses at our place. It was feeding time. We have 18 horses of our own. They were put in the stalls and had been fed. We don't have room for the others, so we feed them in a paddock. This is what we have always done. DS was in the house for about 10 minutes. DH looked out and I heard him say, "Go check and see if that polo horse that is laying down is okay." Bad sign for a horse to be laying down at feeding time.
DH and DS went to the paddock and I stepped out on the deck. I heard DS say, "Somebody kicked him in the head!" I could see the horse's abdomen twitching like there was a fly on him and could tell he was breathing. I expected to see a horrible injury. He had a 2-inch gash on his forehead. By the time I got there, he had stopped breathing. He was in a dry lot and you could tell he instantly dropped after the kick. There was no sign of struggle. I think he was probably "dead" before he hit the ground.
We tracked down our friends in Canada to give them the bad news. They had some themselves. They had to leave Canada and drive 23 hours to a vet in Wyoming because their dog was ill. He was in an oxygen tent with blastomycosis. This was Saturday evening and the vet was giving them very little hope.
I talked to them on Monday morning. They had picked the dog up and were spending the last few hours alone with him. They called Wednesday morning and said they were heading home early with the dog. They had taken him back to the vet to have him euthanized and the vet said he was doing much better. We were so relieved for them.
This Monday, DH and DS made a trip to Iowa to pick up some horses that our friend loans to another polo player for the summer. He does this each summer. Usually DH takes them up and then returns to bring them back. However, this year our friend took his horse trailer up there for the other polo payer to use and left it with the horses instead of my husband taking them. So this time he was to pick up the horses and trailer instead of using our trailer. Our friend's trailer is much older than ours, but he uses quite a bit, so we didn't think about it not being safe.
They picked up the horses and the polo player's groom loaded them. My DH and DS made a final stop at a farm about 30 miles away to pick up a mare and colt. On long trips, we usually stop every couple of hours and check on the horses, water them, etc. They made more frequent stops this trip because they had the colt on the trailer.
They were within 50 miles of home and DH heard one fall. He said he pulled off of the road as soon as he could and found one of the horses down. DH and DS had to unload the colt, mare, and two other horses to get to this one. The horse was bleeding to death.
Apparently while using the trailer this summer one of the horses had damaged one of the cutting gates. The groom did not tell DH when she loaded them. Something was not done correctly to the cutting gate and the horse cut an artery. When she went down, she started thrashing and cut herself up even more. They could not stop the bleeding.
DH and DS had to load the other horses back on to the trailer and continue to our friend's farm. Then they had to unload all of the horses over the one that had died.
One of these incidences alone is awful, but with so many in a short period of time is unbelievable. Our friends have had a horrible summer. Of all the years of dealing with horses, we have never seen a summer like this one. I sure hope it is over, but we are now being overly cautious about everything.
Days before leaving for their trip this summer, one of the polo horses died at the owner's farm. This horse was in his 40s and was still playing polo. Not unexpected considering his age, but still a sad thing to happen.
A couple of weeks later we had five horses at our place. It was feeding time. We have 18 horses of our own. They were put in the stalls and had been fed. We don't have room for the others, so we feed them in a paddock. This is what we have always done. DS was in the house for about 10 minutes. DH looked out and I heard him say, "Go check and see if that polo horse that is laying down is okay." Bad sign for a horse to be laying down at feeding time.
DH and DS went to the paddock and I stepped out on the deck. I heard DS say, "Somebody kicked him in the head!" I could see the horse's abdomen twitching like there was a fly on him and could tell he was breathing. I expected to see a horrible injury. He had a 2-inch gash on his forehead. By the time I got there, he had stopped breathing. He was in a dry lot and you could tell he instantly dropped after the kick. There was no sign of struggle. I think he was probably "dead" before he hit the ground.
We tracked down our friends in Canada to give them the bad news. They had some themselves. They had to leave Canada and drive 23 hours to a vet in Wyoming because their dog was ill. He was in an oxygen tent with blastomycosis. This was Saturday evening and the vet was giving them very little hope.
I talked to them on Monday morning. They had picked the dog up and were spending the last few hours alone with him. They called Wednesday morning and said they were heading home early with the dog. They had taken him back to the vet to have him euthanized and the vet said he was doing much better. We were so relieved for them.
This Monday, DH and DS made a trip to Iowa to pick up some horses that our friend loans to another polo player for the summer. He does this each summer. Usually DH takes them up and then returns to bring them back. However, this year our friend took his horse trailer up there for the other polo payer to use and left it with the horses instead of my husband taking them. So this time he was to pick up the horses and trailer instead of using our trailer. Our friend's trailer is much older than ours, but he uses quite a bit, so we didn't think about it not being safe.
They picked up the horses and the polo player's groom loaded them. My DH and DS made a final stop at a farm about 30 miles away to pick up a mare and colt. On long trips, we usually stop every couple of hours and check on the horses, water them, etc. They made more frequent stops this trip because they had the colt on the trailer.
They were within 50 miles of home and DH heard one fall. He said he pulled off of the road as soon as he could and found one of the horses down. DH and DS had to unload the colt, mare, and two other horses to get to this one. The horse was bleeding to death.
Apparently while using the trailer this summer one of the horses had damaged one of the cutting gates. The groom did not tell DH when she loaded them. Something was not done correctly to the cutting gate and the horse cut an artery. When she went down, she started thrashing and cut herself up even more. They could not stop the bleeding.
DH and DS had to load the other horses back on to the trailer and continue to our friend's farm. Then they had to unload all of the horses over the one that had died.
One of these incidences alone is awful, but with so many in a short period of time is unbelievable. Our friends have had a horrible summer. Of all the years of dealing with horses, we have never seen a summer like this one. I sure hope it is over, but we are now being overly cautious about everything.
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