Here's a bit of the story. The horse is a two year old registered (?) Half Saddlebred. No clue what the other half is. What do I tell you people about breeding these odd crosses and where they tend to wind up...
"This woman had taken a horse from her neighbor 4 days earlier, as the horse was living in mud up to his knees and not getting fed, so she talked her neighbor into giving the horse to her. Unfortunately, she was not really set up to house a horse and had built him a small pen out of two strands of loose barbed wire to contain him." (lovely accomodations pictured left...I particularly like the loose nylon halter and way too long drag rope)(Point #1: You are not rescuing when you take a horse from a bad situation and put him into another bad situation. If you wanted to help the horse? Take him to a boarding barn. If you don't have $$ for a boarding barn and don't have proper horse facilities, then call animal control and otherwise stay out of it. This lady did not do this horse any favors. Although, at least she did call a good rescue and that's who has him now!)
Anyway, pretty predictably, this two year old stud colt (c'mon, you KNEW that was coming!) cut his hoof halfway off on the barbed wire. If you're eating, don't even look...
Everybody - it's spring.The weather is getting good. Just go out and buy hot tape, connectors, a charger, and enough beer to get your friends over for the day. I know it's not the cost that's stopping you. The supplies are cheap. You just need the labor. Aren't your horses too valuable to you to risk an injury like the one you just saw? And don't tell me it's ok because your horses are in a big field. We all know that the mean horse will corner the wimpy horse in the corner of that big field. It's Murphy's Law of Horses.
Oh, and the colt is going to be okay...quite amazingly. The injury missed the joint. Of course he has substantial vet bills - if you'd like to donate or are interested in adopting him once he is a healed-up gelding, head over to SAFE. He's in the Seattle area.