Hug your babies. Freak accident

[RedMare01]

I was out visiting my mare earlier. The barn where I board her is a big TB foaling/breeding place.

Yesterday, two of the yearling fillies were out playing in the pasture. They ran head first into each other. One was fine, and the other broke it's neck just above the withers. Luckily one of the barn workers was watching and the vet happened to be there preg checking some mares, so they managed to get to her and euth within minutes.

Has anyone ever heard of this happening before? I know freak accidents happen, but I just cannot imagine....

So, everyone give your horses a hug. You never know when something may happen.

RIP Izzy.

Caitlin

[Windswept Stable]

Thats too bad. So sorry to hear that.

[classicsporthorses]

Oh, how scary. Just tonight we had a yearling filly who was screwing around in the round pen, fall, slide and get caught and wedged 1/3 of the way outside of the pen. She's a very big girl too-about 15.2+ and 22 months old.

God Bless her, she stayed perfectly calm and laid there as we worked to free her-about 15 minutes. She has one very very minor scrape on her.

I let her stand for a moment as her breathing returned to normal and she walked into the barn with me as calm as anything.


I know that when my stallion was a baby he was running around his pasture and stopped and his dam ran right into him, throwing him into a fence post and breaking his leg in multiple places. His leg was put back together with wires, plates and screws.

It only takes a moment for something freaky to happen. I certainly hugged my filly again today after a near disaster at our place.

[cottagefarm]

It's not that uncommon . I live in TB country and hear stories all the time.

I remember hearing of two arabians (older endurance competitors) that were running around bucking and playing and both broke their necks running into each other. :-(

I had personal experience of a horse running into a tree. It happened overnight so nobody knew exactly what he did. He had to be put down a couple of days later because they couldn't control the swelling in his brain:cry:

They just do some dumb things sometimes !

[Tiki]

I had a gorgeous 10 month old colt slam into something, probably in play. We don't know if it was another colt, a tree or the fence as no one saw it. He became extremely neurologic and actually dangerous because of the pain and we had to put him down. On necropsy, it was found that the Axis had ridden up over the Atlas, and there were hemorrhagic areas in the spinal column, most probably due to that type of injury.

When I was a kid, I went to a rodeo at the Boston Garden. In the wild horse race, two horses who were bucking and running around ran into each other. One had it's head down. It broke its neck and they had to remove all the other horses, halt the proceedings and remove the dead horse. He died on impact.

Yes, it happens!

[TrueColours]

We had one of EMG members relate the exact same story last year. she turned her horses out and was watching the pair of them running and playing and they came in a sweeping arc towards each other and same thing - ran head first into each other ... :( and she lost both of them in an instant ...

The Stonewashed colt I sold out west did the same thing as well last year. :cry:
Out playing in his regular paddock, he went from the bright sunshine to the shade, didnt see the upright post in front of him, ran headfirst into it and broke his neck upon impact. We were all SO upset to hear that ... :(

Extra {{{HUGS}}} tonight for sure ...

[Clarion]

So sad.:cry:

I know someone who had the same thing that happened with two of her colts--ran right into each other head on. One died. The other had some problems for a while but ultimately was all right. It was very sad. It makes me worried when I see my two colts rough housing outside.

[goodpony]

So sad :cry:. Will be giving ours big hugs---I don't think a day passes when I don't give them all big hugs.

[La Gringa]

While my filly was out at Blue Ridge, I was scared of this. She was out with a lot of babies and they often got silly and stupid, running crashing into each other. Most of the time of course this is harmless, but like any animal (or human for that matter) accidents do happen.

I breathed a sigh of relief a bit when she came home and is now with our calm nanny mare Dora, but I still know that accidents can still happen. They can do this just playing being silly all by themselves!

I do hug my baby all the time, and the rest of my horses too. They are very precious and I would be devistated if this happened to one of my kids.

RIP little filly. At least she didn't suffer long.

:cry:

[STF]

Oh that is horrible!
Im glad the vet was close.

[Izthatrt]

How sad. I know of one tb broodmare that happened to in our area. When people complain about the price of a nice horse, I always say..."you do know most horses are on a suicide mission from the day they are born."

[FLIPPED HER HALO]

That happened here locallay a month or so ago at a boarding stable. It was actually 2 adult horses that did it during the night. At first they thought they'd been shot but UC Davis did neocropsy and they had died from impact to eachother. Both had severed spines, massive head injuries, broken ribs and one had a punctured lung. So sad.

[jStylesFlit]

Wow, CottageFarm....I thought I owned the only horse to run into a tree. Scared the bejesus out of me, we watched it happen at a full out run into a live oak tree as wide as her chest, fortunately, she hit it front on, in the sternum, threw her right on her back,sounded like a car accident, left skid marks on either side of the tree, from her back feet...thankfully she had turned her head, it took her a minute to get up, regain her composure, she was wobbley, but we walked back to the barn.

She wound up with a lemon sized hematoma between her front legs, and not a scratch or misplaced hair on her. Needless to say, she isn't allowed out in the pasture anymore, by herself.

Until now, reading your post, I'd never heard of a horse running into a tree, was definitely a first for me. :eek:

[dbaygirl]

Wow, these stories are unbelievable. Makes you want to run out and REcheck for the zillionth time all the stuff in the field, paddocks and stalls. I heard of a filly in the interior of BC injuring herself so badly (a month ago) by kicking at the shovel of a tractor (in play) that she had to be euthanized. She sliced her hamstrings. It REALLY makes me nervous when horses or horse babies kick so close to fencing. A friend lost a mare years ago just from kicking out at nothing while galloping with another horse out into a field. The leg hit nothing but my friend heard the hind leg snap as she kicked out. It is said that horses will find a way...but when you think of it, so do human kids and people in general have the strangest accidents sometimes.

I have always treasured my horses, but especially after you lose one, you really do hug them every single day. Nothing is taken for granted. Every day is a gift.

[sporthorsefilly]

So sorry to hear this, life can be very short. Condolences to the owner.

[thumbsontop]

That's just awful. Hopefully the owner can take comfort in knowing that the filly died while having a blast with her buddy.

We also had a 2 yr old pony filly die when a 15.1 TB crushed her against the fence. Unfortunately she hung on with no outward swelling - only completely unwilling to move. I knew she needed to be euthanized, but the young vet had hope. I should have stuck to my instinct. I checked on her often and, though she did look a little better, one time she had passed, having obviously struggled quite a bit to regain her feet. They didn't do a necropsy but suspected that she died from peritonitis.

[Sambucca]

How sad. :(

As others here have mentioned, it happens. For such powerful animals they are certainly fragile all at the same time. {Hugs} to the owner of the foal.

[RheinlandPfalzSaar]

Oh my goodness. How horrible, my condolences to everyone who has had this or a similiar experience... I could not even imagine.

I will definitely be hugging on Lorelei extra when I see her tonight.

[Hi Jump]

What a sad thing to happen. Of all the things I would never think of them running into each other.

I can't imagine turning foals out in helmets but someone might come up with one.

Synergy Sporthorses
home to Cotopaxi and Raffaello
http://www.hunterjumperstallions.com

[grayfox]

I'm so sorry. What a tragedy.

[ponygirl]

I'm so very sorry. It's scary as to how freakishly common these things are.
I will never get the image out of my head of 2 race horses doing the same thing. 1 horse lost it's rider and was running the wrong way on a track, slamming into another. It was on the news. It was horrendous to watch :-(

[Stacie]

While my filly was out at Blue Ridge, I was scared of this. She was out with a lot of babies and they often got silly and stupid, running crashing into each other. Most of the time of course this is harmless, but like any animal (or human for that matter) accidents do happen.

Accidents can happen but I've never seen a boarding facility as careful with their babies/weanlings as Blue Ridge. They bring them into the barn if something is going on at the farm that they think the babies may get all worked up about...like when the hunt comes through. The other night she was up at 3am because one of the pastures of mature horses was running around and she went out to make them stop.

[Dalriada]

I remember hearing of two arabians (older endurance competitors) that were running around bucking and playing and both broke their necks running into each other. :-(


Those were my two Arabians that did the same last summer. It's a shock no matter when it happens or how it happens.

My condolences to the owners who lost the babies.

We're still recovering from the loss of Inkhi and Fish, may they RIP. At least we saw it happened and were with them as they died - I can't imagine what it would have been like finding them laying in the field not knowing precisely what had happened.

Years ago we never heard of freak accidents like this but now with the internet and chat forums we are hearing about incidences like this more and more.

[FriesianX]

One of my friends had a mare who broke her neck running into her shade tree in the pasture. A big local breeding ranch lost a few babies to broken necks - usually running into the fence while playing. Read a story about a horse who was in that Centaur style fencing - suppose to be safer because they "bounce" if they hit it, but the horse managed to get a leg through and almost sliced the leg off. Even if you keep them locked up in stall, freak things can happen. A friend's mare kicked through her stall wall, severed her DDFT. There is NO keeping them safe - just as there is no keeping your own CHILDREN safe. All you can do is make it as safe as possible and allow them to be horses (or children)...

One of my horses who was always a rough playing boy (ROUGH), use to get into the worst predicaments - one time, he managed to get part way over a 6 foot pipe panel (that was around a tree), hooked his blanket in the panel, and dragged it all over the place until I got home. Had a few minor scrapes, nothing worse. He crashed through a few gates in his life, even got out on the road once. His prior owner unloaded him from a trailer once turned around and in the other stall - he managed untie himself and roll under the divider, and flip around while they were hauling him. But, ultimately, what killed him was some kind of freak illness - and the big surgery clinic had no idea what it was or how to treat it. So, after all his wildness and rough housing and getting into things, he died in a stall :no: You can't protect them, just enjoy them while they are with us!