Tragic accident - opinions needed

[4tailjimmy]

I found my 14 yr old welsh d on the ground one morning unable to get up and had badly cut his front knee and eye by thrashing against a gate post next to which he'd got himself trapped. He could not get up onto his back legs although could sit up on his front legs. A few hours later we eventually got a jcb and horse harness to get him up as he had been down for a long time and his breathing was laboured. He was unable to put any weight on either of his back legs although he would respond with a small movement when the vet prodded his foot sharply with a pen to check for feeling. Over the next 18 hours, we massaged and manipulated his back legs but internally he was suffering from the pressure on his abdomen from the harness. Thick green slime was starting to come out of his nose. He was unable to pass urine or mucks. For the last 5 hours we alternately lifted him up and lowered him down to lie and rest but we tragically lost my baby boy at 3.30 the next morning. I was never told what it was that paralyzed his back legs but it sounds like a cracked vertibrae caused by a fall. Any opinions would be gratefully recieved.

[092556]

No opinion but so sorry for your terrible lost. Big hug from Florida

[PRS]

I'm not a vet or a doctor but I would guess he suffered some sort of spinal injury when he fell or shortly after. Since you didn't actually see him fall you don't know if he flipped over or what. Sounds like he might have. The only way to know for sure is to perform a necropsy. It would be expensive and wouldn't change the fact that your boy is gone. I'm so sorry for your loss. :(

[Addison]

RIP little pony.

It does sound as though he had some kind of spinal injury.

I'm so sorry for your loss.

[pj]

I am so sorry. I think it's a lot harder to find one in that kind of distress than it is to find one unexpectedly dead.
It does sound like a spinal injury.
Try to find peace in the fact that he is no longer in pain.

[back in the saddle]

My horse hit the gate post as I stood on the opposite side of it last June. They were running around, I went out with hay to calm them, he saw me, galloped to the gate, lost his balance, hit his head on the gate post, fell to the ground at my feet, and was dead in a matter of minutes. Solid gates,fences,posts, etc.. can be bad news to horses. A seemingly simply fall can go really bad because of the size and weight of a horse.

Sorry for your loss.

[Zu Zu]

So sorry for your loss ~ hugs for you during this heartbreaking time. RIP SWEET PONY. Thoughts and prayers for all who loved him.

[deltawave]

I'm very sorry, what a terrible thing for you and the little horse. Without a necropsy it would be very difficult to know, but something along the lines of a spinal cord injury, an infarction in the spinal cord or aortic embolism/thrombosis would lead the list of suspects, I think. The latter would probably not cause an inability to pass manure or a loss of sensation, though.

Scant comfort, but it's almost certainly nothing you could have prevented. For all their strength and vigor, horses are all too fragile. :(

[MistyBlue]

My condolences on your loss.
Is it possible with the head wounds that he might have hit his head hard enough to cause some brain swelling?

[red squirrel ridge]

I am so sorry for your loss, you are in my thoughts and prayers.

[hoopoe]

I agree with Delta notion of a saddle thrombus, a blood clot to the lower large arteries (where the arteries split to go down each leg) in the pelvis can lead to partial paralysis.

clots can arise from undiagnosed strial heart issues. A hidden condition in some horses

I am so sorry for your shocking loss.

[Grataan]

I'm with delta.

Or, he fell for some other reason and was down in an awkward position for so long it caused paralysis from the pressure.

Sorry for your loss

[AKB]

Sometimes horses can get a nerve palsy from being down in an awkward position for too long. Spinal cord injury, head injury, clots, and other fractures also come to mind. Did you ask the treating vet what she thought caused the hind leg issues?

I know how hard it is to lose one and to not fully understand why it happened. Keep talking with people who were involved until you feel like you understand what most likely happened.

[Bogie]

I'm so sorry for your loss.

[MunchkinsMom]

My deepest sympathies on your loss, so heartbreaking.

[Couture TB]

I am so sorry for your loss. We had something similar happen to a 2yr filly. She couldn't get up other then a little weight on the front but could move her front and back legs but not stand. We tried the picking her up method also. But she must have broken her back or injured her spine right in the middle.

It is always so sad when that happens, as I said I know how hard it is because almost the same thing happend to us.

[Bluey]

Our neighbor had a weanling in a pen, he tried to jump out the gate, flipped over the top of it and broke his neck.:cry:

Without a necropsy, no one can know what happened, but it seems that all you could do was done.
Sorry.:(

[chemteach]

So sorry your pony had such a tragic accident. Hugs from Virginia.

[Auburn]

I am so sorry for your loss.

[equi-jumper]

I can not express how deeply I feel for your loss. Look to the future and what it may hold. :)

[summerhorse]

I'm sorry for your loss. It doesn't sound like anything you could have done would have changed the outcome.

[twofatponies]

Poor little guy! I'm sorry you lost him.