Shit happens.

But sometimes on the top of the shit pile there is a cherry:)

This time the cherry was called: pedal bone.

I never knew that rugs could be so dangerous. During all these years with horses, I have never been attacked by one, kicked, strangeled or even spitted at by one. ( To tell you the truth, drunken vet students are much more worse...)
I thought they were harmless, helpfull pieces of fabric with nice colours, soft in-side materials with outside suitable either for rain and snow or drying of the sweat. Coming in all new season colours, cross belts, leg straps, fixable locks, sizes from a small pony to an elephant. From cacao brown to light sweet green, shoulder flaps, tail sraps, thick good quality wool, three-point closing, high neck, sweat rug, turn-out rug, stable, travel, underwear, soft, warm, easy, long-lasting...




I admit that I have been kind of a rug-a-holic and carried for my horses every winter new ones. I mean, you get those so cheap in Finland, the land of a good rug-making.
No harm, so struggle.

My lovely four year old lipizzan stallion always thought different.

Őcsi was suspisious from the beginning. The first light weight cotton rug he put in order by pulling a piece off from it during the first cold Autumn nights. He never actually told me what really happened. It will always stay between him and the Evil Cotton Rug. But what is most important, they begun a very fragile friendship.
This weird friendship lasted untill the first rainy ice-cold days when the Awfull Rainblanket landed his blood-hungry paws on the Hungarian ground...

For Őcsi this cross belted dark blue monster was more difficult to win. It had three-point closure for better fit, the secret TPCFBF-code wich young horses learn about "How to kill your clothes"-evening school.
Őcsi took those blody things off with an extreme jump from full galopp to one shoulder. It hurt a bit but it was all worth it.

I still could not think that so harmless looking piece could really be so bad. I tied it on with some ropes, closed the cross belts "klick klick" and put the youngster to the windy cold winter.
What happened is a mystery, but it must have been a fight about life and dead. Only the neighbouring horses could witness these kun-fu jumps and bites. The Awfull Rainblanket lied dead cold in the rain when I came for my tired, but happy youngster.

Then came the day, what Őcsi had been scared of. The day when The Blanket won. The day when I learned that rugs really can hurt horses.

The heavy-weight, cotton-filled Ninja Thermo rug got an bite from my stallions tail, where it hang about ten minutes. I witnessed this unfair fight without being able to do nothing. It was all me to blame and I suffered to see Őcsi running in panick around the riding hall to get rid of the ugly thing.

At one point Őcsi tried his Triple- Karate-Kid-jump, (very close to the combined capriole plus buck practised by the disobedient Piber boys...you can have a curse on this in the third year of "How to make your owner mad"-school.). The jump failed due to the wrong position of the stars and he hit his hoof to the wall.

The rug gave up a bit later.



Őcsi was complete lame from right front.:(



Our veterinaries are Dr. Horvath and Dr. Simons from the Ullő large animal clinic. Thank you and sorry if I spelled your names wrongly.

X-rays showed a broken pedal bone. Medial side.

Now the cherry-thing is this tradegy is that if you should choose a bone to be broken in your horse, always go for the pedal. The prognosis is very good and horses suffering from this normally recover to full work in some (3-6) months. It needs stabilising the hoof and boxrest.
(The later will be veeery difficult for Őcsi cause he said he should meet James Bond and Superman at Batmans summer cottage next Wednesday at noon to share different methods fighting against the leg protections.)

We will get a cast over hoof, some new more precise x-rays and ice, acupuncture, laser, new diet, trick training against boredom, a lot of love and ..... I was thinking about a new rug....?


Tidudiii-tidudii-tidudii-tada. Tiu-iii, tiu-iii, tiu-ii, Tada. Music from the mission impossible. Everybody, sing together....
Ta-ta-ta-ta, ta-ta-ta-ta.....