Bobbie (right) and her owner, Bailey (left)

June 2, 2009

We visited with Bailey and his servant, Bobbie this evening to see how he's doing and how Bobbie is holding up. When a horse in injured this badly it takes a lot out of the caretaker as well as the injured animal because we love them so much. Bobbie has taken Bailey to her home where she can keep an eye on him and be ready to respond in an instant if needed.

Caution, don't look any further if you are squeamish - the following pictures are graphic.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife was called in. It's the opinion of Heidi K. Bailey (the name is a coincidence), Regulatory Wildlife Biologist, Region 3 Wildlife, Texas Parks and Wildlife that this was not a cougar attack. A cougar would have jumped on his back and gone for the throat. Heidi and her colleagues believe this was an attack of a pack of stray dogs because of the bites on the legs. A cougar would have clawed much deeper and would not have gone after the legs.

That is why it's not a good idea to dump your dog "in the country"!! They form packs and kill to eat. What they kill may be an animal that someone else loves very much.

Here's Bailey's rear leg. The yellow is bone. Believe it or not, this looks good and is showing signs of healing.

Bobbie is showing me where all the skin has come loose around the wounds. This is normal and was expected. This is the same thing that happened with Leo in 2005 (click here if you want to see Caution - the pictures are graphic - don't be alarmed, he survived and is doing just fine today)

The next picture below is a close up

The stitches have ripped out because of the necrosis of the skin (it died) and he will lose all the skin on his rump. Believe it or not, new skin will form over the exposed muscle - it just looks awful now and I'm sure it hurts him. It's amazing, he's standing in Bobbie's front yard and eating grass like nothing is wrong. It this was me, I'd be in the hospital in intensive care. Apparently horses have a much higher tolerance for pain than we do.

Bailey is under the expert care of Lone Star Equine Hospital at the racetrack in Grand Prairie, Texas (about 40 minutes away). That is where you take the most urgent and desperate cases and they are the best. Bobbie has been taking loving care of him and we have no doubt that he will be ok.

If you have horses, it's important to know that no matter how hard you try to protect them, they get hurt. When Leo was hurt, the vet told me that he thought that if you put a horse in a rubber room, he would find a way to hurt himself. I'm posting these pictures for you to see so that if you own a horse, you will know that a horse can, and will, survive even when you think all hope is lost.

I'll keep you updated as often as I can and we really appreciate the calls and emails of support.

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