Horses always seem to injure themselves at the weekend and Jay-J did exactly that! It was Sunday and he was absolutely fine on the poo pick. After the coffee break, the team went up to do some enrichment with his herd and noticed that he was lame and that the fence line was loose. On closer inspection, they saw that two fencing fastenings had come out of the post and that Jay-J was sporting a really deep and nasty gash on his right hock. This kind of injury is more than we expect our grooms to be able to deal with and so the Emergency weekend vet was called.

When the vet examined him they noted that the discharge from the wound was clear and the immediate fear was that the joint itself had been damaged. Joints have fluid pouches and if they are compromised then in most cases the horse needs surgery. The vet's initial request was that we put Jay-J in a trailer and take him to the nearest equine hospital for further diagnostic tests. However, our knowledge of Jay-J, his anxiety of the unfamiliar and his past trauma meant that we knew that we needed to do all we could on site and that any trip in a horse box to a place he didn't know would need to be a very last resort. So we asked for as much diagnosis to be done as possible in situ.

A second vet was called and they arrived with the kit to do an ultrasound scan but that needed to be done in a stable. Jay-J now had no intention of walking from the tracks alone, but his best love and emotional rock Gwen was also head collared and led him slowly down. The ultrasound and testing indicated that the joint had most likely not been compromised, so thankfully the need to travel him and put him in a highly stressful hospital environment went away. The vet took samples of some of the wound fluid to be tested and the next morning we received confirmation that it was inflammatory discharge and not joint fluid. Phew!

But now the fun was really starting... The vet advised us to keep Jay-J in the stable for a couple of weeks to limit his movement and prevent risk of straining it, so we set him up with hay, water and enrichment balls and also Gwen in the stable next to him for support. But as his sedation wore off and the painkiller kicked in, he got more and more worked up about being confined away from his herd and became stressed. He was allowed out the next day to have 15 minutes of grass grazing, but this didn't settle him either - he was refusing to take his meds and was so upset that he was becoming a danger to both himself and also the staff.

We called the vet again and they agreed that we could put him back with his herd as it seemed it was the best healing environment for him, but that he would need some stitches in the wound and his bandage changing daily. So he was stitched and bandaged again and led back, with Gwen, to his beloved herd. Since then his healing has started and he is calm and taking his medication, albeit sometimes in bed as it were (see photo!) but we do whatever it takes for him.

Rescued horses have often suffered such abuse that they simply cannot react in the way that is most convenient for their care or healing and Jay-J is one of those. When he is with his herd he is calm and a magnificent leader of the younger horses, alongside his Gwen. But take him out of that environment and his fear and anxiety surface and completely take over, leaving him in permanent flight or flight mode which just does not allow healing of any form. We always consider the emotional welfare of our horses alongside their physical welfare, as both are of the utmost importance. Jay-J is not out of the woods yet and the vet continues to visit but our team are reporting that the wound is starting to heal and he is happier in himself! Thankfully the decision that we took to save him the stress and trauma (and us the expense) of not only travelling to the hospital but also of being in that frightening and stressful environment for days has proved to be the right one!

We now just have to get him fully healed again - and the bills paid! The total target for this appeal covers just the treatment on the day of the injury and the two subsequent vet visits.

Thank you for whatever support you can give us!