The Value of a Life
Wild stallion with broken leg learns to survive by Shari C. Silverman, VMD
A
s I walked across the open field, taking pictures of semi- feral horses grazing on the
island of Vieques off the coast of Puerto Rico, I saw a white stallion standing in the shade of a large hardwood with three full-bellied mares sharing his siesta. As I got closer and took a good look at the stallion, my heart fell. I have spent too many years around horses to not recognize a broken leg, even from a distance. I raised my camera and zoomed in.
Moving quietly and non- threateningly, I approached almost within touching distance and continued to take photos. As I circled the herd, I assessed this horse.
Despite the broken leg and the fact that like most of the mature stallions, his neck was covered with the battle scars that had earned him the right to
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have his own mares, he was in pretty good condition.
The fracture was above the left knee and bent the leg so far back that it looked more like a hind leg with a hock in place of a knee. I noted that there was not much swelling and I could see that the body had compensated for the deficit as there was significant remodeling of the bone above and below the break. In addition, the front left hoof was half the size of the front right hoof. It takes some time for this kind of atrophy to occur when weight bearing is uneven.
This horse had been living with this injury for quite some time! Perhaps the leg had just healed with the once broken bones fused in this unnatural position.
The stallion stood with half closed eyes, ignoring me. He shifted his
weight and rested a hind leg. Horses have the amazing ability to sleep standing up but they will often shift weight and rest one leg at a time – this was normal resting behavior and without waking up in pain, he had switched his weight onto the injured forelimb.
How do we decide whether a creature should live or die?
The mares started to grow restless at my encroachment on nap time and they ambled away to graze. At this point, I noticed another stallion, a young unmarked robust chestnut, loitering nearby. As the mares moved closer to him, the white stallion raised his head and fixed his dark eyes on this would-be usurper. The chestnut quickly lowered his gaze and turned away from the mares. With a yawn,
Holistic Horse™ • August/September 2012 • Vol.19, Issue 80
photos courtesy Dr. Shari Silverman,
www.SimplySoundHorse.com
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