About mid-afternoon on a Saturday in early November last, I received a call from a very distressed owner whose gelding had sustained a serious injury while hunting. Apparently the horse had slipped while jumping a ditch and had fallen against a sharp bow of a tree. It was reported that he had a large gaping wound on the left shoulder and that he was not bearing much weight on the leg. The owner was afraid that the leg might be broken. Thankfully the rider had not been injured.

I questioned the owner as to what was visible when looking at the wound. She said that she could see torn muscle but no bone. She said that it was not bleeding heavily. I explained that the horse would start to go into shock and that she should arrange to get a rug on the horse asap. I instructed her not to move the horse until I got there.