Hard Days and Better Times – Part 1 (A long post but it is the full story)

We are not always guaranteed to have happy days. Sometimes life decides to throw us a curve ball out of left field for no reason. The past few years seems to have been filled with curve balls of one shape or another it seems. March 29, 2021, seemed to be a normal day for me. I got the kids from the bus at 4pm and proceeded to drive around the property and check on all the animals to make sure everyone was happy and healthy, and they were. I went inside and began making dinner like any other day. While the kids finished up homework I stepped out because I needed some fresh air. Walking down the driveway I could tell something wasn't right. My heart sunk to the bottom of my gut when I looked up and saw my beautiful 3-year-old gelding Vae (Vegard) and I thought I was looking at a different horse. From a distance all I could see was that his bottom lip was hanging down like a derp (my technical term for a horse with a loose bottom lip is a derp or derpy lip). This boy was always tight lipped, he never had a saggy lip, so I immediately knew something was very wrong. It wasn't until I got into his pen that I could see the scrapes along the sides of his face and I knew what he had done. Being an inquisitive young horse, he must have been looking over the back gate, but instead of bringing his head back over the middle of the gate he somehow dropped his head down a small space between a cinder block wall and a cemented in post, got stuck and pulled back until he freed himself. The really bad part came in that when he pulled back he did so where the latching chain was located for the gate. Not only did he get the squeeze play from the wall and post but also the added complication of the chain that was securing the gate right above his right eye. I was immediately on the phone with my vet and emailing her pictures. Under our vet's guidance we removed any and all feed and plant matter and administered some medication we had on hand to help with pain and swelling until they could see him the following morning first thing. Thankfully, the next morning x-rays showed nothing was broken just very swollen and tender. It was also identified that he had damaged or severed a section of the nerve bundle on the right side of his face which is what had caused the paralysis. If it was just his lip everything would have been fine, however the paralysis was also affecting his cheek and tongue. Without control of his tongue eating would be hard if not impossible. Many things were discussed including the possible need for euthanasia if the damage couldn't be reversed. Muscle damage could take weeks to heal, but in time muscles heal fairly well. Nerve damage could take months to years depending on the severity of the damage if they are able to heal at all. To say I was heartbroken would have been an understatement. However, we decided to give him some time and to see what would happen with some anti-inflammatories and steroids ... (Come back next week for part 2)

Photos Showing the injury and a size 8 women's shoe showing the place the injury occurred. (Opening has since been closed)