Very Bad News....

I am shaking and so sad as I write this, but writing seems to help and pass the time for the next 45 min. If you are squeamish at all, do not scroll down and look at the following pics. I went out to water about an hour ago, and I found that Gunner, my paint horse had cut his leg pretty bad. It is his left rear leg, and there is a hunk of flesh cut out near the hock, and another more longer gash down on the cannon bone.  I immediately called my husband, who is on his way home from work and should be here in about an hour (he works 2 hours from home). As soon as he gets here we will get Gunner from his stall, assess the injury and decide if it's something he can handle or if we should take him to the vet. Now I know, when you see the pictures, many of you are thinking ~She's an  idiot, there's no way they can fix that themselves, those injuries are too bad. But, let me explain, my husband Terry, worked for a large animal vet for over 10 years. He knows how to sedate a horse, suture, pull teeth, deliver foals and calves, assist with c-sections, and just about anything else you can imagine he would have had to do working with a large animal vet. But he is not stupid either, he knows when it is something he cannot handle, and if that is the case with Gunner, we will have him at the vet's  ASAP! We have  all the medicines, and supplies, it's just a matter of what he thinks when he gets here.

Now, back to the injury,  I have NO IDEA how he did this, we are super careful about safety, we don't have anything in our pastures that he could have cut his leg on, especially up that high~~I checked the fence line, the run in shelter, the hay ring and walked every inch of the gates that make up the riding arena, and I have not found a speck of blood, hair, NOTHING.....so I am very frustrated to say the least, since I don't know how he did this, I can't fix it....but I am gonna go look again and see if there is something I missed. In the meantime, I have wrapped the leg, to control the bleeding and to keep dirt out of it, although the bleeding has almost stopped now, and he is in his stall munching contently on his hay. I was very wary about how he would react to me wrapping his leg, he has never had an injury like this, but he stood like a statue, so that helped a lot. He is putting weight on it, so that's good.....I just hope and pray he will not have permanent damage....scars don't bother me, he will never be sold, he will be with us forever, but I have plans for him to be my next trail riding and cattle working partner.... I'm gonna go back out and check on him, and Terry should be here anytime....so here are the pictures, and I will post an update later.......