Monica shared the following story on my facebook page and while the story itself isn’t so cute, I thought the fact that this woman chose to save her 30 year old horse was.
Danny, an ex-show horse, somehow managed to lodge 9″ of wood in his forehead. No joke.
Photo by Rhinebeck Equine
Danny underwent surgery at Rhinebeck Equine where they were able to successfully remove the foreign object. For the full article, click here. The fact that his owner felt so connected to her horse as to agree to and pay for such a major surgery on a 30 horse, well if that ain’t love I don’t know what is. Because I can honestly tell you I don’t know if I’d do the same for my horse. But, then again, who knows what kind of prognosis Danny was given before hand – for coming through the surgery and quality of life afterwards.
It completely boggles my mind as to how Danny managed to get a 9″ wooden stake in his forehead. It’s so bizarre it almost seems to unreal for Murphy’s (horse) Law (wherein, if a horse can hurt itself, it will).
We’re all thinking it, I’m just going to go ahead a say it: Vampire Horse. Clearly Buffy got a little confused and staked poor Danny in the head. One too many vampire kung-fu kicks to the noggin, methinks.
As I was writing this post, a thought occurred to me: is it cruel to put a 30 year old horse through such a (presumably) strenuous surgery? What do you think?
13 Comments
If he was healthy and sound in all respects and I could afford it I would probably do the same.
Methinks he says to himself, ” Won’t do that dumb stunt again! I really have a splitting headache.”
With animals, it really depends on the whole situation. Have to consider potential outcomes, quality of life, health of the animal, etc. Most 30 year old horses can’t handle strenuous surgery, but some can. Glad that the owner was so dedicated. Lucky horse!
Yeah, I’m going to go with the owner on this one. Every horse is different, and it could be that this fella’ is a healthy, robust guy with many good years left. The best person to make that decision would be the owner, with the support of the veterinarian. The worst: probably a bunch of people on the Interwebz who don’t know anything about the individuals involved. But I think the look on this horse’s face says volumes- mostly “Why the @$#%^ did I DO that”?
Scary for sure. Im not sure what I would have done. What would quality of life be afterwards? Chance of infection? His ability to survive surgery? At 30 I probably would have let him go. On top of the costs there is a hefty chance of infection.
Reading the article, he was done with standing sedation. They didn’t even lay him down, so not really worse than having any laceration stitched up in that regard. Remember that a horse’s brain is really small and there is a LOT of empty space in most of their skull.
Hopefully the owners gamble pays off and Danny fights off infection to go home healthy, happy, and a bit wiser!
Having spent over $10,000 to fix a much smaller head issue that involved boney sequestrums, I hope this goes well for her…
I have a friend who has a mostly retired TWH, he was a show horse, then she got him and he was a parade and trail horse. Before she got him, he had colic’d, and had to have major surgery, he recovered but then colic’d again, and had to have major surgery again. He has made a full recovery both times, she has or had an insurance policy on him, covering such things until he was aged 20 or older (not sure).
She can’t ride much now, but she loves her horse and her son’s old pony. She would pay for surgery again and again I am sure.
He is in wonderful health, he has a great quality of life, and is waited on and has an almost palatial barn and stall.
The horse in this story has given his owner many years of faithful service, probably many wins. And according to the news story, “Doctors had to remove several bits of bone, leaving Danny with a hole in his head that will take at least a couple of months to heal. But the retired show jumper remained docile and calm throughout the whole ordeal, even as he was forced to stand in place (with help from a sedative) throughout the surgery, Dr. Murray said.”
He was awake for the whole thing and I think THAT is probably what helped him to get through it.
He also had major colic surgery a year and a half ago. This is dedication to a great horse, by a great owner.
I would do the same for my mare.
I would do it in a heartbeat given a decent prognosis. I just paid a fortune for arthrodesis on my 26 yr old gelding’s gimpy knee knowing full well he will never be anything but a pasture ornament…..but now he can enjoy his remaining years pain-free, and that is worth anything. He’s been my best friend for 24 years, made it through the Tevis Cup Ride with me 4 times, carried me to the altar for my wedding, taught my children how to ride….so I completely get Danny’s owner, and applaud her unselfishness and dedication to her lifelong friend.
We had something similar happen to a horse we owned. She was lucky enough to have a 5 inch piece of wood miss the artery in her eye, where the piece of wood had lodged itself in her skull just above the eye. The mare had an unexperienced rider doing a group cross country schooling in the woods and was the last rider to go over a series of fences. The horse panicked because she was unable to see the group of horses around the corner and took off into a thicket of trees.
Lucky for us she has full use of her eye. Turned into a wonderful low level show jumper. Did many Pony Club activities and taught many riding lessons to different young children. She lives out her retirement on our farm and just turned 25 this year! The mare was well worth the surgery, but given the circumstances she was around 12 when it happened.
I feel for the owner who decided to go through the surgery, the horse has served many faithful years for the owner. Depending on the level of trauma of the injury (ie other areas it has affected), I would have done the same.
If that was my horse I wouldn’t blink an eye at fixing it. My horses are my friends and in my heart and I owe them for what they have done for me. What a world this would be if we always weighed friendship against cost. We wouldn’t have the horrible over population of horses or pets we have if everyone didn’t try to make a buck off animals lives. In my opinion animals are a luxury that deserve our care and respect, never are just a right to own, then tossed away when they are too costly , inconvenient or no longer useful..
I would do it, absolutely — the horse deserved the chance. Our vets would not do anything that wasn’t in the interest of the horse anyway. I have total faith in them that they won’t put a horse through anything unnecessary.
Horses look to us for help, and that’s what he got. Now I guess to watch him for any signs of problems, like pain.
I know of unethical vets who will do surgery no matter what, just to make the money. One in particular that we briefly got tangled up with — and had to fight the barn owner to stop pressuring us to use him; known for doing unnecessary surgeries. I have stories long as my arm.
If you make sure your vet is the best you can get, and the most ethical, you don’t have to worry about the decision. I’ve found we have peace of mind, and it’s also cheaper.
My 2 year old colt did something similair, fracturing his skull. He had to have a CAT scan to tell if the injury was to the base of his brain, or the top of his sinuses. He lucked out and it only involved the bones coverernig his sinuses. He then had surgery to repair the broken bones,and 3 days at the vet clinic to flush the sinuses. Total vet bill $1400. I didn’t think that was too bad at all. I would pay that on a horse who gave me 30 years of pleasure like this person did. My horse is now 7 and is doing very well.
*facepalm* Oh horses, sometimes I wonder how they survived natural selection… Honestly. One of the school horses I ride managed to stab himself with god knows what on the INSIDE of his butt cheek. A friend’s horse managed to get himself tangled in the electric fence WHILE IT WAS ON (luckily breaking it in the process, and then just standing there waiting for somebody to come rescue him). Another friend’s horse somehow managed to get a piece of barbed wire lodged in his frog (there is no barbed wire ANYWHERE on the property. There has NEVER been barbed wire on the property. There is no barbed wire on either of the neighboring properties, and even if there were, there is a decent amount of forest separating the paddocks from the neighboring properties). *sigh*
Anyway, as to whether I’d do this with my horse… well, it would definitely depend on the situation. If I could afford it, the horse was healthy enough to go through the surgery, and there was no or minimal risk of permanent damage, then I’d do it, for sure.
And by permanent damage, I mean permanent damage that will negatively affect the horse’s quality of life and that can’t be managed through a reasonable amount of medication.