Pay It Forward...

 

My new motto… Go Forward. 

When the unthinkable happens it can be easy to be negative. I've spent a lot of time worrying about a lot of things, and I decided recently that it was time to clear out the negativity in my life. What brought on this life changing event you may ask? Cleaning out boxes I found dog tags I had purchased in support of spinal cord injury research in honor of Christopher Reeve… my new motto of late is "Go Forward". It's what's pushed me to look for a better job, and to move out of my mom's house and into an apartment… to let go of my past and stop acting like a victim of it… to "go forward" and make my situation better because there's not an option for it not to be. Tonight that faith was tested when my best friend was hurt.

Spot the jail…?

I got a call around 5:30 or 6:00 in the evening that my horse had come in from the pasture lame and upon further inspection had stepped on a nail. If you don't know anything about horses this seems like a minor issue that can be fixed by simply pulling the nail out of the foot…  not so unfortunately. 

Four traumatic hours later, 3 sets of x-rays to confirm what parts of the foot the nail had hit, and a procedure that involved putting a tourniquet on the leg to inject I.V. antibiotics directly to the foot in hopes of preventing an infection of the coffin bone, I'm looking at a best case scenario that there will be no infection and the hoof will heal in 3-6 months… I'll be out about $1200 all said and done. Worst case scenario the nail hit his coffin bone… he ends up with an infection of the bone and either needs a $3500+ surgery and continued treatments or worse needs to be put down. I can't even allow myself to think about the latter option. Rio is my best friend and has been with me through thick and thin over 10 years. So I'm praying and asking everyone else to pray for him, and for me too that everything heals with out complications.

That being said I have some AMAZING people in my life, and while I wish this hadn't happened at all there was a lot of luck on my side. We caught the problem with in about a 6-8 hour window at most which means he wasn't sitting there with a nail in his foot over night or longer. The nail was still there and we were able to do radiographs to confirm proper treatment before removing it. Had the nail not been in place when we found him or had a well meaning boarder or barn owner pulled it out not knowing any better the whole could have sealed up and I would have never known why he was lame or that there was a possibility of bone infection until it was too late to do anything about it…. there's a lesson to be learned for any horse loving readers out there that aren't educated on what to do in the case of a puncture to the foot… NEVER pull out a nail or foreign object with out the help of your vet no matter how harmless it looks and when in doubt about anything ALWAYS call the vet out… had I left it till morning I he could very well be in even worse shape.  

As I sat crying and feeling completely helpless about all the what ifs my friends were there to pick me up and keep me positive. 

getting X-rays 

One of the other boarders even offered the comfort that should worse come to worse she would help me find a way to pay for it and pay her back… this is a person who really barely knows me and she's telling me hey don't worry we'll figure it out. My roommate drove me out there… went and got me dinner, picked up medications and disinfectant for his foot, and let me cry on her shoulder and I know she hates emotional stuff like this! My trainer, and my ferrier both offered to help and gave me sound advice. And, when I finally found a vet that would come out at 7:00 at night on a 3 day holiday weekend it turns out he's a lameness specialist… that and he gave me a major discount on all the stuff he needed done, and is going to try to work with me as much as possible.

The new barn owner where we are moving has offered to help with his care and let me ride one of her horses until Rio is on the mend…. Her friend is dropping everything to move us tomorrow on short notice so that he will have a dry clean stall to stay in rather then being out in a paddock. ..my friends have all offered to help come out and clean and bandage his foot because I have to work 10-12 hour days. I feel so completely and utterly blessed that so many people are rallying around us and I hope that one day I can pay that forward. 

Please pass this on to your friends! We can use all the prayers and help we can get… and if it helps someone else in the same situation avoid the disaster of potentially pulling an object of a punctured foot and escalating an already bad situation than that is worth it too. 

Thanks to everyone who has offered support! Rio and I love you all!