I know it looks like maybe I put one of those nasal strips on blind Lena because the other horses were complaining she snores at night, but that actually isn't what happened. No, Lena had to mark the first official day of grazing season by going face-first into a fence wire out on pasture and cutting a gouge across her nose. When I went out to bring her in yesterday evening, I could see the blood on her nose from a distance away and thought, uh oh. Yep, a nice deep cut, right in the center of her face.
I walked her and Nikki back to their corral, and Alayne came over to join me after she finished bringing in her pair of horses. In eight years of being out on pasture, this is the first time I can remember that Lena ever got hurt in any way.
Now, all of our fences are smooth wire, and it is very rare that any of our blind horses get hurt. In fact, as I've pointed out before, our handful of sighted horses typically are more prone to injury than our blind ones because they tend to be goofballs and do dumb things — like race up to a fence, misjudge the distance, and go right into it. Or, they'll stand at the fence, paw at the ground because there's a horse on the other side, and hook a hoof over a wire. Blind horses, on the other hand, tend to be very careful and cautious in their movements, so injuries are rare. But, like Lena yesterday, they do happen.
At first I thought it was just a superficial cut, but as I put on surgical gloves to start treating it, I pulled the flap of skin away and saw white bone underneath. I turned to Alayne and said, "Time to call Erin." It was about 5 p.m.
Our equine vet Erin knows I think Lena is the prettiest horse in the universe, so she handles me accordingly — which usually means whenever we have a "Lena issue" she becomes Erin the shrink treating the neurotic client and not just Dr. Erin Taylor, DVM, MS, DACVS (she's a board-certified veterinary surgeon, too). After I explained what happened and what the injury looked like, Erin peppered me with questions about the flap of skin, which way it's pointed, the size of the cut, etc., and then laid out what our treatment options were. But, she assured me, "It will heal fine. The bone is always very close to the surface in that part of the face. These facial wounds usually look worse than they are and heal quickly."
Then she said, "There may be a scar, though."
I said, "We can't have a scar. No scars. No way."
Erin: "Um, even with a scar, she will still be the prettiest horse in the universe. Now chill."
Then she told me what I needed to do to dress the wound, what to give Lena for antibiotics and inflammation, and to call her in the morning with an update. Alayne and I headed off to round up the various medical supplies. Alayne took the photo above of me with my patient after I got Lena's wound bandaged up.
This morning the bandage was off but the wound looked pretty good. We dressed it again, gave her the antibiotics, and then I called Erin with an update.
Me, still neurotically fretting about a scar: "Do you think we should, um, you know, find a cosmetic surgeon?"
[Pause. Long pause. I could sense eyes rolling on the other end of the line.]
Erin: "I can do cosmetic, too. But I don't think that will be necessary. Relax."
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