A Crazy Horse Story

Saturday was my first official day volunteering at Greenwood Wildlife Rehab Center. It was pretty slow, so we were all going to leave an hour early at 4:00. As I was getting in the Geo, I noticed a strange shape maybe 25 yards in front of me. It looked like a horse lying on its side with its legs straight out. My first thought was that it was dead, but as I walked over to investigate, she moved her head - just a little. She had somehow ended up lying on her side with her left legs stuck between the second and third wires; the second one cut into her armpit and her inner thigh. I ran back to the trailer to get help. Fortunately, the manager and animal tech were still here. The tech, Lauren, is in vet school and is an experienced horsewoman, so she knew what to watch for, be concerned about, etc. One big concern was that the horse was having trouble breathing because of all the weight on her lungs due to her position. We cut the fence wires and got the mare on her feet, but she ended up on the Greenwood side of the fence, so we had to walk her through the Greenwood property to get to the pasture gate. In the meantime, the manager, Gabriele, called the dude ranch, and they were sending someone out to assess and treat the horse's injuries. All in all, the mare had some pretty nasty cuts from the wire, but they weren't bleeding profusely (i.e., cut arteries), and she was a little lame. Not bad, considering. If I hadn't seen her, she would have died. I think I would have noticed her when I arrived at Greenwood at 1:00, so hopefully, she had been there only a couple hours. Not bad for my first day on the job!