March 8, 2014

Rain's Accident

Yesterday was one of the scariest days of my life...

Martha came to work with Rain and Violet.  It was sunny and warm, and I was so excited to ride Rain.  When I got out to the barn, Martha had Rain in cross ties and was grooming her.  Everything was fine as always, but while we were tacking her up, something went terribly wrong.  We have no idea why, but all of a sudden Rain started pawing at the ground. I was standing right next to Rain, and Martha was behind me. Martha knew what was coming and pushed me back out of the way, "Shana stay back!"  It all happened so fast, but I remember Martha calmly whispering Rain's name as if pleading for her to calm down. But it was too late... Rain backed up, pulling so hard; and then she reared up violently yanking both cross tie bolts out of the walls.  I saw her go up, and the cross ties go flying.. almost in slow motion.  And I keep replaying it all in my mind.  When the bolts finally came loose, rain catapulted backward and flipped completely over taking out everything in her path. She landed in the worst way... falling against the sliding barn door and landing on a chair smashing it to pieces underneath her. It was so awful to watch and even worse to see her lying there.. the sliding door pressing into her stomach, and her two front legs against the outside of the barn and back legs inside.  All four legs too close to the walls- she was stuck... and she was still. Too still. It was just under a minute probably but felt like an eternity with her down like that on top of debris, just still.  My hands over my mouth, tears rolling down my face.. I was in shock I think.  I didn't know it at that moment, but Martha was sure that Rain had broken her neck.  What I did know was that Martha was scared.  She tried to be calm and strong for me, but I'm very connected with Martha and could feel exactly what she was feeling... she was scared to death.  And so was I.  Still, Martha remained calm on the outside and walked slowly over to Rain and scratched her lightly on her neck... "Rain, it's okay girl... get up. Get up, Rain..."   And then after some pushing and kicking against the barn walls, Rain thrashed and struggled her way up.  Before she could take off, Martha took her rope and started to assess the damage.  She was pretty banged up... cuts, scrapes, patches of missing fur, and puncture wounds in her mouth.  And not surprisingly, she was lame and limping.  Mostly though her neck and head are so sore.  Dr. Kimmons said to give her two grams of Bute and to observe her.. that she'd probably feel worse before she felt better.  And that Monday he'd come and run some tests if she didn't show signs of improving.  I love this horse so so much....  I am so worried about my Rainy Belle...  Martha is coming today at 2:30 to work on Rain... she thinks a little myofascial therapy  will help her.

I still can't believe it happened.  And only two days before the year anniversary of Willow's death. :(

My poor sweet, gentle Rain. Please God let her heal- both physically and emotionally from this...

8 comments:

  1. Oh Shana.. ( and Martha ) so scary.. I cannot even imagine.. I am praying for Rain to heal quickly.. and I am praying for you ( and Martha ) love to you all....

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  2. Will be praying for Rain and you that everything will be alright

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  3. Praying hard for sweet Rain.......and you. Please let us know how Rain is doing when you get a chance. I'm so sorry.

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  4. So heart breaking. Praying for you both.

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  5. This is heartbreaking. I am so sorry. I hope Rain is doing better now.

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  6. So, so sorry for you! Sometimes I wonder if God puts these events in our lives because He knows that we
    can handle them and that we have His grace to help, nuture, see the issues and then hand out His love thru
    our faith to those who need it. Your horses are with you for a purpose and you handle the difficult times with
    so much love, prayer and faith that I believe you are the angel for these horses. God bless you and thank you
    for being such a great testament of faith for us humans as well as those horses who have found you and who
    will continue to find you thru God.

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  7. I have 20 secs to post cause I am in middle of something, but real quick: I see very few people using safety clips on cross ties. These clips are vital as you have now experienced. I am unsure if you had them or not but since you mentioned Rain bulled the bolts out, I am thinking you didn't. Please look into getting them. This is a major safety item I rarely see. I have seen horrible accidents similar to what Rain and you guys experienced. It's called Tie Safe Clip - it will hold in most situations but if there is a major horse panic, it will release. It wont stop a horse from going up, but it will potentially prevent horse & human from being injured by the cross ties. ~Rebecca

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  8. I had the same thing happen to my mare about 12 years ago. She pulled back so hard that the screw eye came out of the wall turned and went right in her shoulder. It was nasty. Now we always use breakaway cross ties. They have Velcro on each tie so if the horse pulls it comes apart. We learned that the horses will continue to pull because they are scared of what is pulling against them. Once the rope gives they give and tend to calm down. i would look into those. I so hope Rain is ok! It is such a scary feeling!

    Lindsey

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