Another Injury

Well, there was a short lull but it's over.

Grace, palomino mare tangled with the fence. I have to suspect that she kicked out from the huge, NASTY "bomber flys" as she wrapped both hind legs in the fence and ripped out the fence and pulled a fence post (tposts) out! With her hind legs "hobbled" she must have had to hop to get up here from the back fence line. She was also a bloody mess from the flies being able to get her. I thought she had abraded skin off in patches at first look but went to work on cutting the wire up and peeling each wrap off her hind legs. I was very leary doing so as I could tell she hurt and her legs were starting to swell. You never know if they will try to kick free as they feel restraints being removed or if they'll think a leg is free enough to kick a biting fly. I was trying to kill the flies on her underside and hind legs as I was cutting and periodically stopped to kill one if she was trying to bite at one she couldn't reach. My hands ended up a very bloody mess as the flys were engorged on her blood. Soooo nasty!

The good news is Grace stood like a trooper. She remembered her old training to not move a foot if I'm working under her! She never moved a foot the whole time and even when I was needing to switch sides due to the direction of the wire. She was just a peach to stand so well while hurting.

Once the wires were all removed, I could only get her to move a hind foot. She was afraid to move and probably from the pain. I finally got Summer and moved her alongside Grace to try to walk them both. Grace took a couple small, halting steps and then froze up again. So I ended up moving Summer and calling Grace to come. She did, hesitantly and very cautiously like she was trying to step free of the wire.

After moving from that spot and about 20' away, we stood a couple minutes while I continued killing flies on them. After she thought about it a few minutes, we made our way to the stock tank so she could get a drink. While there, we cleaned her up, hosed her down, and cooled her off. She wasn't thrilled with the hosing on her legs, but we got it done. She doesn't need stitches, but she is cut up some and quite sore.

While out working on the fence this morning and early afternoon, I saw her running for the barn a few times to get away from the flies. So once the cuts heal I expect her to be fine.

She still has all the bare scrapes from the neighbors' fireworks last month. She's a mess!

The fence is fixed but still needs more work. These sunny, very humid, 90+ degree days with 105 HI aren't conducive to fence work! The pop bottle of ice thawed fairly quickly but sure felt good in my pocket and getting me wet!

I hope for another lull, but a LONGER one, please!