Commander is Hurt

Commander tried to jump over this fence.

My PawPaw has many horses.  Four are in side by side pens.  They are Angus, Jessie, Shania, and his new horse Commander.  They also share a much larger fenced-in pasture where they can get exercise, graze, and socialize.  We made the mistake of not shutting the gates for their personal pens.  Apparently, Commander went into Angus’ pen and there was a fight.  Commander ended up jumping the smooth wire fence.

Unfortunately, Commander did not entirely clear the fence.  He had several scrapes and cuts on his chest and front legs.  My dad and I doctored his wounds with the proper medicine.  The injuries were not serious and Commander continued to act like himself.

A week later we went to work with the horses and we were shocked to see his chest.  It was looked like someone had blown a balloon up inside of his chest.  When you touched his skin, it felt as hard as steel.  It looked like it hurt really bad so my PawPaw asked my dad to take him to the veterinarian.

The next day my dad and I arrived at Commander’s appointment.  We saw a woman vet.  She brought out scissors, a knife, and gloves.  She needed these tools to treat Commander.  First she cut a hole at the top of his wound and another at the bottom.  She prepared me to see cottage cheese like stuff coming out of his chest, but it did not.  There was no infection.  Only blood came out of the holes.

Commander was pigeon-breasted.  If you think about a pigeon, they have large chests.  She explained that he had blood blister inside his chest cavity.  The vet showed my dad how to treat the wound at home.  He had to flush out the drain with iodine for five days.

Commander is a great horse.  He stood still while we treated him everyday.  Unfortunately we had to go back to the vet a week later.  His chest was still as swollen as before and still very hard to the touch.  This time we saw the head veterinarian.  He said that Commander’s body was making scar tissue instead of healing.  He cleaned out the scar tissue through the same holes, he just made them larger.

Now my dad has to continue flushing out his chest with a water hose and Kreso D.  He also has to apply an aspirin-like substance to his chest to help draw out the fluid.  Wow! Commander’s chest already looks so much better.  The swelling has really gone down.  Commander is on his way to being 100% again.

Living around horses gives me so many opportunities to learn new things.  I learn how to act around them, to train and ride them, to understand them, to feed and care for them, and I also get to see cool medical procedures.  I love where I live, and I love horses.  They are a lot of work.  I enjoy the fun and the not-so-fun parts of horsemanship.