What the Buck?! One Unusual Call to the Veterinarian

Images and video may be graphic to some readers.

Horses never stop surprising us with the many ways they can hurt themselves. You know the running joke, “all equestrians need to take stock in bubble wrap”… I am not sure even THAT could help out this poor horse owner.

Dr. Thompson of Thompson Veterinary Service in Springtown, Texas was going about his day last Thursday when he received an interesting farm call.

Please….please tell me that antler fell out of a tree and is just perched atop that horses rear….Photo courtesy of Thompson Veterinarian Services, used with permission.

Apparently the mare, who despite the unusual circumstances was rather calm and showed no sign of lameness, decided to have a nice roll in the field. That plan was quickly interrupted as the horse rolled on top of a antler shed, puncturing herself in the….behind.

Well….that’s a first. Photo courtesy of Thompson Veterinarian Services, used with permission.

According the Thompson Veterinary Service Facebook page, Dr. Thompson sedated the horse and administered a local anesthetic to remove the antler without causing the horse undue stress (I mean, at this point, is there anything more stressful than having an antler in your rear?). The veterinarian then made two small incisions on either side to open the wound and help loosen the antler.

To finish up, the wound was irrigated with a dilute cholorhexidine solution and plugged with an antibiotic/DMSO soaked tampon….

Say what? As if this whole incident wasn’t weird enough already!

“Hey — it works!” said Dr. Thompson on Facebook. “I fricken love my job!”

The mare is projected to recover fine with proper treatment, but horse owners everywhere now have ONE more thing to add to our list of worries.

Just more proof that horses can sometimes be a literal pain in the @$$…..