Solstice |
Bryony Barraclough had always had more than a soft spot
for the 6-year-old black trakehner
called Solstice and she finally became his owner in
November of 2015, but her plans to event the athletic 16.3hh gelding were put
on hold following a horrific field accident at the end of January.
Bryony takes up the story.....
The injury when it happened |
“Solstice and my other three horses had been wintering
out and whilst I was away for a couple of hours, the hunt had gone past and
obviously Solstice had tried to follow them. When I returned I saw him in next
door’s field trying to push through a rusty old barbed wire fence but he looked
completely ‘out of it’. I slammed the brakes on and jumped out of my car, ran
over and could see he was caught up by his winter rugs, which thankfully had given
him some protection. The only way I could get him out was to remove the rugs
and what I saw next was absolutely horrific. Solstice was still running on
adrenaline and looking for the hunt, so it was all a bit tricky.
“He had no headcollar on, but I managed to walk him down
the hill with a scarf round his neck and my top tied around the wound to try
and hold it together and stop the bleeding. My phone was in my car so I called
the vet and a transport company as soon as I could; typical, as I had sold my
trailer two days previously. You don't realise how hard it is to get immediate transport
in a desperate situation!
When the wound broke down |
“However two vets from Bourton Vale and the transport
arrived within the hour….. the longest and most traumatic hour of my life. They
were all amazing as it was pitch black, raining and freezing. Solstice was
admitted to the vet hospital and as soon as he arrived, they cleaned the
horrific wound and started cutting away all the badly torn extensor muscle
tissue at the top of his left foreleg, padding it with wadding and then
stitching it with drains in place.
“Despite the care, two days later the wound broke down
and although there was already a large ‘pocket’ running back towards his elbow
joint, the vets cut out even more muscle tissue as it was still contaminated,
so it became a massive gaping hole. Obviously he had to stay at the vet
hospital, while he was receiving medication and management was about keeping
him as calm as possible in a clean environment.
His leg was hosed twice a day,
cleaned once a day and he was walked a short distance each day. At first he
found it extremely hard to even place his foot correctly and would trip if you
weren't careful, but this improved daily, until he was pulling me along!
“The girls on the yard, the interns and the vets at
Bourton Vale were all really good with him and very accommodating about my
constant requests.
When we started to use ArcEquine |
“The staff at the vets had to check on him every few
hours in case he got down and couldn’t get up in the night- something I
continued when he first came home, staying in the horsebox on the yard! The
main issue though was the fact he constantly tried to eat his wound so he had
to wear a bib, then a cradle and then a muzzle. In the end, once he was home, I
resorted to putting dry turmeric powder on the wound for a week and he soon stopped
as he hated it.
He came home in early March |
“When he came home, he was stabled the whole time, except
for walking out in hand a few times a day and hosing the leg twice a day and
cleaning it once a day. Then at the end of April when the sun appeared and he
was desperate to be in the field, I decided to turn him out.
As you’d expect he had a buck and play for about 10
seconds, then put his head down to graze, I couldn't believe it, he was sound
in trot and canter and even showed off some extended trot. I nearly cried.”
Bryony, who lives in Gloucestershire, will be fully
qualified from the McTimoney College of
Chiropractic as a Masters level McTimoney Animal
Manipulator in January 2017 and having previously worked at the Talland School
of Equitation, is well qualified to manage Solstice’s ongoing rehabilitation,
with the continued use of the ArcEquine.
She explains: “Solstice has a scar from an old,
relatively small cut on a hind leg before I had him, which has a lot of white
hairs, but on his badly injured front one, there are no white hairs at present.
The fact that he’s sound is the main thing and given the original prognosis,
anything is a bonus. My vet had a very honest conversation with me fairly early
on and said – “are you happy to continue with his treatment if the best outcome
is that he can be a hack due to the probability of him having an altered gate
and horrific scaring?”
Healing well on April 28th |
“When I got the ArcEquine, my vet had never heard of it,
but was very open to try anything that may help the wound. None of the interns
had heard of it either, which surprised me. Everyone is impressed with the
progression that has been made but one has to revert to the original images to
really take on board how severe it was. It’s hard to believe how quickly it is
healing. Since Solstice has returned home the vets haven’t needed to check on
him at all and apart from the first six days of returning home, where he was on
one sachet of ‘bute per day he has not had any form of medication for pain
relief, which is astonishing.
“Solstice has the most amazing temperament and has been a
‘darling’ throughout. We are taking each day as it comes but I am very excited
that the chances of competing Solstice in the future are now possible again.”
Visit www.arcequine.com for more information and to buy securely online.
Visit www.arcequine.com for more information and to buy securely online.
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