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The owner of a foal found with a section of her nose torn away is warning others of the risks of clips in stables.
Southampton-based Claire* discovered her six-month-old filly with a bloody wound on the morning of 5 January.
Click here to view an image of the wound — please note the picture is very graphic.
“We think she had an itch on the clip and it had clipped on to her nose,” Claire told H&H. “Then she pulled back and tore her nose.
“I found her first thing in the morning and thought, ‘Oh my god, what have you done?’
“At first we had no idea what had happened. We scoured the stable for something sharp that she could have cut herself on.
“We only saw the clip was covered in blood after the vet had been.”
Never miss out on the latest happenings in the equestrian world
The filly had 14 stitches and remained calm throughout the ordeal.
“She’s doing all right and is healing really well,” said Claire. “The vet was amazing.”
Claire has since removed the clip, which had been used to hold a bucket, from the stable, and wants to warn others of the risks they pose.
“I shared the news on Facebook and a lot of people said they had clips in their stable for holding up rug racks and their horses had cut their bottoms on them,” said Claire.
Continued below…
‘I realised the clip was through my hand and thought ‘that’s not ideal’’
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“It’s the most simple of things. It has been in my stable for 15 years and I have had lots of horses and none of them has ever done anything like that.
“It was a freak accident but it’s so easily done.”
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*not her real name
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Rachael joined Horse & Hound in 2014, initially as a digital sub editor then became part of the news team as a writer in 2015. The philosophy graduate studied journalism at the Press Association before working as a local reporter at the Brentwood Gazette. Rachael is now a mum of two and still loves all things equestrian, including hacking, dressage and jumping with her cob Bert. Rachael left the H&H staff to go freelance in June 2019, but still contributes to our magazine and website, as well as our sister magazine Country Life, among others.