Oh no........

I was at work today, just wrapping things up, and I got the kind of phone call that you never want to get about your horse.

"we dont know what he did, but there's a situation here, we need you to come home, your horse is out".
!!!!!

So I went flying home, and I live a half hour away from work, so I spent a half hour worrying, because I couldnt get ahold of my grandparents (I live with them and so does my horse). I got home, and found my poor horse has huge scratches down both sides of his rib cage, with a huge gouge on his left hip. His fence was sagging by his pasture gate(I have electric braid) so I went to investigate, and found that somehow he had snapped the gate post off 1 foot into the ground, and knocked the post the gate latches to sideways. There's chestnut hair all over the latch and I think that's where the gouge came from, but we cannot figure out what happened. Its a 6 foot gate, and he is the only horse on the property, so another horse didn't chase him into it or anything. And even if they did, that doesnt explain how both sides are scratched. So the poor baby is just miserable, and I had to put some Blu-kote on his scratches to keep the flies out while they heal.

THANK GOD for the Parelli program!!! This horse was a fruitcake when I got him(no fault of his own,btw!), and I've been working with him for 2 and a half months, and I was able to spray the Blu-kote on a cotton ball and wipe it on his cuts at Liberty. He is terrified of spray, which is why I couldnt directly spray it on him (yet!) but I've been working with him, so I can spray it near him in any zone, as long as I dont actually spray it on him. Now I've worked at traditional barns before I discovered Parelli, and they have done some horrible things while trying to medicate/treat horses. But because I've worked with him, he let me poke and rub and investigate him. He even picked up each hoof for me when I ran my hands down his legs, even though I was checking for cuts/punctures, not trying to pick up his hooves. I cannot imagine how awful this could have been without Parelli, because I would never have been able to treat him without a halter using traditional methods. He was definitely in pain, but because the trust was there, he knew I was going to try my hardest not to hurt him more. He even rested his chin on my shoulder at one point during the treatment!

I think he will be fine, but of course, I'm worried about him, who wouldnt be? I just wanted to share my story, and how wonderful it is that even when he's hurt, he can still trust me.
 
I did find out what happened the next day, when I was able to check everything out in the daylight. On closer inspection, the prong of the gate latch was bent, and had hair and skin flaps on it. Plus the actual latch had skin flaps on it too, so somehow he pulled the gate loose from the post it gets tied to during the day, and tried to squeeze through even though there wasnt room. My guess is something spooked him, and he knocked over the post holding the gate open, and tried to run around it even though there wasnt room for him, and he ended up tearing his sides up on the pieces of the latch. poor guy. So now he has purple spots all over his sides. My appaloosa finally has spots!
 
I don't even think he will need the vet out(fingers crossed), because there isnt even anything to stitch, and only a couple are bad enough to really need a protective covering. I'm hoping they will heal cleanly so a) he won't have scars, and b) the vet doesn't have to give him antibiotics.
Now though, he has developed a large lump right between his front legs. I'm concerned, because it definitely hurts him, but I can't figure out what it is. It wasn't there last night when he injured himself, it just appeared this morning. He will let me touch it lightly, but is really uncomfortable, and if I try and manipulate it or anything, you can tell it hurts him.
 
I'm still keeping an eye on him, this is kind of a post that has been ongoing since last night.  We are in the middle of fixing the gate posts, and the goofball is over checking all the tools out, and helping as much as he can.  He rolled the posts off the trailer for us, and is having a blast picking up all the tools, and trying to figure out the tractor.  I'm glad he's still curious, it makes me glad he's not in so much pain he can't be curious.  I'll keep posting with updates as it happens.