I would like to tell you how my day went. Actually it strated last night. So I got my stallion ready for todays South Island Shetland Show, with his normal carry on of pawing at the water, washing his acres of mane and tail, plaiting them, having them rubbed out plaiting them again covering him and putting him in my cattle yards. I did wash and prep other ponies but they aren’t part of my current story. So this morning, bright and early I went to get Fairfax my stallion to load. He was lying down looking a bit tired but jumped up and loaded when I asked him to. He rubbed his mane on the float door as usual and off we went. I got to the show, and unloaded Fairfax and the others, then went over to get my back numbers. This took just a minute or two. I went straight back to Fairfax and grabbed his tail brush ready to groom out his tail in preparation for best presented. But when I lifted his tail there was blood running down hs legs, and his anus was swollen to maybe 6 times the normal size. I ran and asked a more experienced breeder to look, and she came over and said to quickly call the vet. The vet arrived and did an internal exam, he said little and looked very worried. This is where I need you to read on if you love horses….
The vet said he had only ever seen damage internally like this once before when a cow was attacked with a broom handle, and that if he didn’t get seen urgently sepsis was imminent. We untied the mares, put them on my competitors floats, and raced clear across town to the equine surgery and clinic. When we got there the junior vet was very worried and clearly puzzled how he got his injuries. Fairfax was given pain killers, antibiotics and IV fluids. His tail had no mobility left and the only way the vet knew off this happening was a severe yank that fractures the nerves, tissues, and tendons – often irreplaceably. When the on call surgeon got there he cleared the area with saline fluids and did a more thorough internal. He found that something had been inserted into Fairfaxs anus without damaging anything on the outside and had been thrust upward tearing his rectal lining and putting a hole through to the abdominal wall. Without doing more he could not tell how far through to the abdomen the tear went, but surgery was not an option as the tear began so far inside.
He too concluded the only way the injury coud have occurred was through an insertion of a sharp object that had torn open the rectal lining. Fairfax was taken to the intensive care loosebox with IV fluids IV painkillers and Lucerne chaff to be monitored throughout the rest of the day and the night. Due to the location of the injury the risk of sepsis is very high and his chances of recovery are fair at best.
When I got home we did a yard check where Fairfax had been the night before, as the vets were adamant it had been done within the last 12 hours. There was some blood that had dripped in the yards, and we found a blood clot with fecal matter attached but after a thorough search there is nothing long enough sharp enough or obviously damaged enough that Fairfax could have fallen exactly on to the right area, inserted the object so precisely as to cause no external damage, ripped himself with no loss of blood or tissue and then removed the item without damaging the other wall or the exit area. There are no other tears or marks on him and no signs of any struggle, let alone one stong enough to yank a tail from its joints.
Draw your own conclusion… The night before a nationally recognised breed show a stallion that has been winning all season is taken out in a 1 in a million coincidence, leaving no evidence and doing it on something that then disappeared by itself…. If you believe this is not a coincidence, please keep your eyes and ears out for the monster that did this to my pony, and keep Fairfax in your thoughts that maybe he can pull through this. I, for one, won’t rest until he is fit and healthy again, or shown respect in death.
Furthermore, having had poor health for two months the damage done to him has also upset my tummy inflamation again to the point that I am in severe pain, unable to do my animal chores, and on the brink of going back to hospital for a fourth time in a month.
Wee Dram Farm Park 