When a horse comes from the pasture without shoes – this is actually everyday life. Especially at the beginning of the green season, the horseshoes “fly” when our horses run exuberantly over the grass. But in England, a loose horseshoe has now ended in a terrible accident.
The young eventing horse Woo Hoo (6yo) from Henlow in England was very lucky. While out in the pasture, a front horseshoe of the mare, known to everyone as Molly, came loose and drilled into a hind hoof!
It was discovered by Blossom, a co-worker of Molly’s owner. “She called me and said Molly had her iron stuck in her hoof,” the owner Pippa Dixon tells. “We grabbed some farrier tools and thought she had probably pulled it or twisted it.”
“I had the worst thoughts running through my head.”
But what she saw next was a shock: One end from the horseshoe went through the sole of the hoof and the other end penetrated the coronet band. “The worst thoughts went through my head. I thought the horseshoe had pierced ligaments or broken her pedal bone and it would be the end of her career. I tried to prepare for the worst-case scenario.”
Carefully, we tried to remove the horseshoe, “But no matter which way we tried to pull the iron out – it kept pushing in at the other end,” Pippa says. “I started to think we’d have to call the fire department to cut the iron off. But luckily, a vet at the practice had an angle grinder. So we had to run yard-long extension cords to the field and the iron was cut.” Molly was sedated a bit for that. However, she was completely unfazed by all the smoke and sparks flying around her.
Horseshoe stuck centimetre deep in hoof
Molly was then taken to Rossdales for an MRI scan. There, the good news revealed: all major areas of the hoof and leg were uninjured. “The iron had gone in a few inches, but in the most perfect spot as it missed everything. I could have cried with relief,” Pippa said.
Now Molly will be given six weeks of rest, then she can probably be ridden again. For her owner, this is a miracle. And she’s extremely grateful that her staff responded so great. “And the vets were great, too – especially Charlotte and Maggie, who handled the very stressful situation brilliantly.”
Molly is happily back home
How the accident happened is still unclear today. “No one knows how she did it. She may have lost it while rolling, or she may have kicked it off while galloping. At first, I felt terrible with the thought that maybe someone else had lost the shoe and we had missed it. But it was her own shoe.”
The important thing for Pippa right now is that Molly is doing well. “She’s home now and all in all seems very happy and spirited! She really is an incredible little mare,” Pippa said on her Facebook page. She had actually planned to compete with Molly at the six-year-old championships at Osberton this year. “It’s absolutely upsetting that she’s going to miss the championships.” But she doesn’t want to think about that for long. She is much more pleased that “Molly has been very lucky.”
“She is a very talented mare and I have very high hopes for her. So I hope she comes back fit and full of beans.” And then Pippa laughingly thinks of Burghley, one of the biggest eventing competitions in the world: ” One day, when she wins there, this accident will be just a small part of her story.”
Source: Horse & Hound
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