Pitchforked horse

[Liberty Belle]

This is an email I got last night from a neighbor who ranches over east of us. Nick is her son and Al is her husband and it's an interesting story. Have any of you ever heard of anything like this?

Hi, just a note to tell you that we had some bad luck today. Al's favorite horse, Bill, was in the corral for him to use for calving. We also had two bulls in the corral. Well, don't really know what happened but when Nick went to feed, he heard the horse whinnying in the barn and went to check.

He was bleeding pretty good, so Nick got Al to stop and what they think happened is the bulls got to pushing the horse around. Anyway, Al went for my uncle John and cousin Gary, and John came over, Al thought Bill's hip was broken, but it wasn't. Al took him to Hettinger to the Vet. They pulled a 28" piece of a pitchfork handle out of his hip. It had broken off in there.

He is really sore. Didn't want to load or unload from the trailer. We have him in a stall on the east side of the shop. He is supposed to be ok, but only time will tell. Al won't be able to use him for calving, or any riding this summer. He will have to use my horse, Speedie. Well, just wanted to let some of you know.

We are calving and tagged 8 tonight, I even got chased over the fence. If you ever happen to be in our pasture, watch out for 910. I was on the fence and had to flip over. Nick was sure yelling at me. Oh, well, maybe it was because I haven't been out there much this year, but I think that I will sleep good tonight. Hope everyone else is doing ok. Talk to you later.

[Oldtimer]

My theory has always been- If it can happen it will happen to a horse- and usually the best one......I've never seen so many different ways a good horse can cut itself...

[Denny]

A friend of mine brought over a complete horse hoof one time.The horse was swatting flies and stomping near a small oak tree.The vet figured the horse got his hoof caught in the crotch of the tree well he just jerked it completely off.The hoof grew back but it took about 1 1/2 years.

[Faster horses]

Denny, I am wondering if you mean the hoof shell. That will grow back, the whole hoof (foot) would be a whole different thing. (I just thought I would point this out, as at first I thought you meant the whole foot.)

Our good friend is Gene Ovnicek who is on RFD-TV with Dennis Reis. Gene shod a lot of horses at our place while learning the Natural Balance he founded. Our neighbor had a horse that had caught his foot in a cattle guard and pulled the hoof shell off. Gene worked with that horse and they got him sound. Funny to watch the hoof grow back. It took this horse about a year. Started from the top and grew down. They did have to watch it closely.

With many horses with split hooves, Gene took a hot iron and seared the split at the very top of the coronet band to promote healing from the top. A neighboring veterinarian had a horse with a split hoof, right down the front of the left front. For three years, vet had tried everything imaginable to get that crack to go away. He even resorted to putting a metal piece over it and screwed it into his hoof. Gene says cracking is nature's way of getting rid of an inferioriority. So he sears them with a hot iron and it works amazingly well. Heat promotes healing and he just helps it along. The horses stand for it better than you would think. When it gets too hot, they pull their foot back and that's it. In about 9 months the vets horses' foot was fine, no cracks~looked normal.

We had a horse with a crack and it went from coronet band to the toe. He actually had a split hoof like a cow. We put a wide-web shoe on him and healed him up. That was caused from some bacteria getting between the hoof and the hoof wall. There was a little bubble there, then a crack. Gene cleaned it out, but didn't quite get it all and the bacteria moved up the foot to the top, causing a complete split. With the wide-web shoe on him, we were able to ride him while it healed. The wide-web shoe held the foot stable.

There are so many things that can be done anymore. Lots more knowledge from people like Gene who have made sound feet on horses their life's work.

[rancher]

I seen a neighbor's horse have a pitchfork handle sticking out of the side of the stomach of his horse. The horse died, lesson was learned never leave a pitchfork out in the open or behind a fence where they can grab it as that is what his horse did. It was not a pretty sight and lost a good horse.

[Denny]

[Chuckie]

i had a horse i bought that had gotten his off rear caught in a woven-wire fence, ripped off the outer third of his hoof. he was really ouchy about being trimmed/shod, but we had a great farrier, we tranked him the first 3 times he needed work, then he was fine. it took about 2 years, but his hoof grew back 90% normal and we rode him (lightly) the entire time. a good trail horse, but not a speck of "cow" in him.

had speed too, sold him to some guys hoping to make a heading horse out of him. had the speed, but i don't know what ever happened with him....

too bad the farrier went back to texas

[Silver]

[Faster horses]

Sorry that I am so long in answering your inquiry. I have been gone.

As I recall, a wide web shoe is a flat, very wide shoe that holds the foot very stable. We had experience using it about 15 years ago and the outcome was super!!

You can contact Gene Ovnicek directly on the situation you have described here. He is one of the greatest men we have ever known. He will be very glad to help you. You can call him at 719-372-7463 or go to his website: hopeforsoundness.com

His e-mail address is edss@ris.net

edss is the initals for Equine Digital Support System. He has devoted his whole life to helping horses stay or become sound. He has seen and healed what you are describing, and it won't be hard to fix. Will just take time and his expertise.

Good luck and let us know the outcome. As I said, it can be fixed. So Go for it!!! Here is a great opportunity to meet a truly great, caring human being. You won't be sorry!!

[SDHorselover]

Hi, As I am new to this, I will try to keep it short. The horse that had the pitchfork handle up in his belly is doing ok. He seems to be happy that he has all this attention and is getting really good feed. I haven't checked on him today yet, but will do so later. My husband is really pampering him. Just thought you might like to know.

[Turkey Track Bar]

SDHL (short for SD Horse Lover):

Welcome to the board and the "family". If you hang out here much, you'll probably find like most of us have, that youll have an extended family here.

I'm glad to hear the horse is getting along well. If you get a chance, can you post some pics of him? I've heard of horses poking eyes out with pitchforks, but not getting gored by one.

It seems if a horse can find trouble, it will. And they say sheep just like to die, if so, horses seem to run a close second.

My favorite horse getting himself into trouble story involves my favorite horse Pat. He is quite the charmer, really has a nice personality, loves people and attention, plus is a great cow horse. Well we came home from the state fair, it was about 10:00 pm, were unloading stuff, and Pat came for his dose of attention. I was scratching around his ear and felt something that was like caked blood. Sure enough, caked blood. It appeared that Pat was rubbing/scratching, and must have scratched on tin that was on the barn and caught his ear--darn near cut it off. We have a great vet.-he came sewed his ear back on, and he's good as new---

Again, welcome, and take care!

Cheers!

TTB

[Faster horses]

One horse we had while in Western Mt. was such a nice horse, but he just couldn't stay out of trouble. Once he got caught between two trees. Stuck tight, he squealed and made some noise so we would know where he was and would come investigate. My husband had to cut a tree down to get him out.

Next time he got caught between a jack-leg fence and a tree. Same deal. Had to cut the tree down to get him out.

We finally sold him to save the trees!!