I hope I never see anything like this again

H

Humberto

New member
I don't even know how to describe how I feel right now.


As some of you may know, one of my jobs is at a horse farm. Actually I live there and take care of the place. We board horses there, and I do some training and teach some riding lessons.

Well tonight, one of the boarders was working with a horse. This girl is a pretty capable rider and has been riding for a while.

She was doing what's called lunging - basically you have the horse at the end of a long rope (called a "lunge line") and have it travel in circles around you. It's a way to exercise horses to warm them up before you ride them.

Well, she was lunging this horse and something went wrong. I don't know what, I wasn't there to see it. I just got a phone call to run my ass out to the barn as fast as my two legs could carry me.

I get out there, and the horse is laying on her side with a pool of blood under her head, blood spraying from her nose every time she exhaled. Apparently she reared up and fell backwards. When she fell she must have broken her neck and done severe damage to the structures in her neck, she couldn't move at all.

I ran to her and tried to prop her head up on my lap but her head was dead weight, I simply couldn't lift it. So I used my bare hands to scoop the blood away from and out of her nose, trying to clear her airway. She looked at me with this look in her eyes, seeming to be begging for help.

Then she finally took one deep breath, and stopped breathing. I listened for her heartbeat with my stethoscope. Nothing. I covered her head with my jacket, looked at my boss and silently shook my head.

There was nothing we could have done for her. She died within fifteen minutes. The vet couldn't even get there in time to put her down so she wouldn't have to suffer.

I feel terrible for the girl. She's only 15 and this is going to probably haunt her for the rest of her life. It wasn't anyone's fault, it was a freak accident, but I know she blames herself. It wasn't her horse either, but she had permission from the horse's owners to work with her.

So I went into my house, leaving my boss to call the horse's owners while I tried to clean up. I looked in the mirror. I was absolutely covered from head to toe in blood. I've never seen so much blood in my life.

And I had to wash up and still come in to my other job tonight. I tried to call off but they weren't very understanding. I should have told them to fuck off and just stayed home.

I feel sick to my stomach.
 
That's pretty harsh. I used to volunteer for an equine rescue foundation, and sadly it does happen, even though it's quite rare. As it turns out, horses are both sturdy and fragile. Sorry to hear about this incident, and sorry you had to witness it.

As for the other job not understanding, you should have showed up covered from head-to-toe in blood, and tell them to fuck off in person.
 
I just wish I could have done something for her. I think I'm going to try to get some sedatives from my vet to keep on-hand. That way if we ever have another accident like this at the very least we can give the horse some sedation to ease its suffering. It was absolutely heartbreaking to see her like that, knowing she had to be in a lot of pain before shock finally set in.

I was quite fond of that mare too. I had been considering offering to buy her from her owners since they rarely ever got the chance to come out and see her.

She had so much potential. :sad:
 
Telling her it wasn't her fault and her believing it wasn't are two different things. I'm sorry you had to witness that. It's heartbreaking to watch an animal you care about die. :hug2:
 
:hug2:

This is so sad. I don't know what I'd do if I were in your position. I think you acted very calm and I'm sure that helped in some small way.
 
I'm sorry to hear how bad this shook you up. I grew up around horses and sometimes it's hard seeing this happen since they are such wonderful creatures. Sometimes a shot, or even a bullet, is more merciful than letting them suffer.

However, if I ever start talking about 'the tree horse' story around you, stop me. It's one of the funniest stories I have, yet I have this feeling that you won't like it much. :tongue:
 
Bro, Sorry you had to go through that and you don't seem to have anyone there to talk to.

It was an accident. There may have been more involved, but that's all there is to it. It happened.

I would actually recommend working. Focus on something. Give your brain the time it needs to understand what happened.

And remember your not alone ether. Other people have been there. This happened to my aunt, the horse lived longer, but died a lot slower due to an infection.

There's only so much you could have done. If it was a break as bad as it sounds, the horse might not have been able to react to medication.

Just work through this bro. There was nothing you could have done.
 
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