I feel simply sick to my stomach today.
Yesterday as I was tacking up Molson in preparation for a clinic when he completely freaked out when I put his saddle and girthed him up. He was fine for a few minutes, then I went into the house to grab my martingale, and as soon as I came back he pulled back, scaring himself in the process, he then leaped in the air, missing me by inches and took off bucking with the saddle on and his halter rope dragging and wrapped around his hind legs.
To my surprise he took off right out my front gate and onto the road at a dead gallop. From the marks on the road and his injuries it appears he tried to turn left into my neighbours driveway, but slipped and fell then proceeded to slide on his shoulder and left side a good 20' until he hit a pile of old fence posts tangled up with barbed wire. From there he bolted up the ravine through the thick bush to the opposite side of my fence (which is where I found him bleeding and shaking like a leaf).
His rope halter cut into his poll, he has road rash on his nose and his left hip bone, several long (10") deep scrapes on the left side of his rump and his left shoulder has a hole puncture-type wound in it the size of a golf ball. He also has several smaller cuts and abrasions on his elbow, front and rear leg.
The vet had to put a drain in the hole in his shoulder, and put him on a course of anti-biotics and considered the other injuries to superficial (they will heal with rest and bute).
After we were done with the vet and got him settled in, I took my saddle in to our local tack shop to be assessed for damage, and they found that the tree in it was twisted... which will completely explain his behaviour as of late.
I feel like a total shit, I know better than to not recognize when a horse is hurting from a saddle. But I had the saddle assessed and fitted last fall, where the fitter found it to be an excellent fit and an excellent quality saddle. Being a Max Hopfner, I never even considered there might be a problem with my saddle.
So my horse is going to recovering from his physical injuries for the next couple of months, and who knows how long it is going to take me to get him to release that 'muscle memory' from the twisted saddle.
I've already been shopping for a new saddle and so far the winner is the Stubben Maestoso with the Bio-Mex seat... provided it fits Molson of course.
sigh
Yesterday as I was tacking up Molson in preparation for a clinic when he completely freaked out when I put his saddle and girthed him up. He was fine for a few minutes, then I went into the house to grab my martingale, and as soon as I came back he pulled back, scaring himself in the process, he then leaped in the air, missing me by inches and took off bucking with the saddle on and his halter rope dragging and wrapped around his hind legs.
To my surprise he took off right out my front gate and onto the road at a dead gallop. From the marks on the road and his injuries it appears he tried to turn left into my neighbours driveway, but slipped and fell then proceeded to slide on his shoulder and left side a good 20' until he hit a pile of old fence posts tangled up with barbed wire. From there he bolted up the ravine through the thick bush to the opposite side of my fence (which is where I found him bleeding and shaking like a leaf).
His rope halter cut into his poll, he has road rash on his nose and his left hip bone, several long (10") deep scrapes on the left side of his rump and his left shoulder has a hole puncture-type wound in it the size of a golf ball. He also has several smaller cuts and abrasions on his elbow, front and rear leg.
The vet had to put a drain in the hole in his shoulder, and put him on a course of anti-biotics and considered the other injuries to superficial (they will heal with rest and bute).
After we were done with the vet and got him settled in, I took my saddle in to our local tack shop to be assessed for damage, and they found that the tree in it was twisted... which will completely explain his behaviour as of late.
I feel like a total shit, I know better than to not recognize when a horse is hurting from a saddle. But I had the saddle assessed and fitted last fall, where the fitter found it to be an excellent fit and an excellent quality saddle. Being a Max Hopfner, I never even considered there might be a problem with my saddle.
So my horse is going to recovering from his physical injuries for the next couple of months, and who knows how long it is going to take me to get him to release that 'muscle memory' from the twisted saddle.
I've already been shopping for a new saddle and so far the winner is the Stubben Maestoso with the Bio-Mex seat... provided it fits Molson of course.
sigh
