A filly has had a stirrup removed from her leg under general anesthetic following a riding accident in Victoria, Australia.
The chestnut youngster was being exercised when her rider fell off and the saddle slipped back.
The horse then trod into the stirrup with her offside hind leg, snapping the stirrup leather and wedging the iron onto her leg.
Vets from Barwon Equine Hospital worked to free the iron from the filly’s leg alongside the emergency services.
Credit: Barwon Equine Hospital
“All the vets here have seen some unique injuries in their careers and this truly was another one of those ‘just how did they manage that‘ scenarios,” wrote a spokesman on the Barwon Equine Hospital’s Facebook page last Tuesday (May 5).
“As you can see from the photos, the emergency services were called in by track staff as a precaution. Thankfully, however, the stirrup iron was able to be removed intact from the leg while the filly was under a brief general anesthetic.”
The spokesman explained the stirrup was stuck above the filly’s hock and would have been difficult to remove while the distressed horse was fully conscious.
“The decision to remove the stirrup iron intact and under general anesthesia was made for several reasons.
“The filly was understandably fractious and the anesthetic allowed a full and thorough examination of all her injuries in a safe manner.
“In addition, to cut the stirrup iron would have exposed sharp metal edges capable of inflicting further injury.
“By being patient and waiting until the horse was recumbent under the anesthetic, manipulating the iron off the hock then became a relatively simple task.”
The filly suffered minor injuries from the accident and has since returned to work.
