07/29/2026
George, George, George of the farm… Watch out for that fence 😅
Because sometimes, if you aren’t laughing, you’re crying, & after realizing how much worse this could have been, we are incredibly thankful to see our little guy feeling well enough to play with his ball again.
Late Wednesday, we came home to find the gate separating our minis from the big horses standing wide open. We believe the latch malfunctioned, but because the minis had been around the bigs before without any problems, we didn’t think anything terrible had happened.
As we began returning everyone to their proper pastures, George was the last to be rounded up. He was standing alone near our white pipe fence, & it was not until I began putting his halter on that I saw blood dripping from his nose & bite marks across his back.
We brought him to our little barn & contacted two emergency vets, but both were 45 minutes to an hour away handling other emergencies. Thankfully, George’s bleeding stopped, & was eating & drinking, so they felt he would be okay until we could reach our regular vet clinic the following morning.
With Dr. Sweatt away on vacation, Dr. Hutchins was able to see George quickly. A scope revealed a hematoma inside his nose, & X-rays showed that George had fractured it. Dr. Hutchins believes he may have run into the fence during the commotion.
When we asked how often they saw fractured noses, we were shocked when he said they were fairly common — especially in young horses who are not always fully aware of their surroundings.
Thankfully, his airways looked good, so he will not need surgery! Unfortunately, there is nothing left for us to do but give him lots of love & time to heal.
We may never know which of the bigs got after him. It is hard to imagine any of them hurting one another. Even knowing the gate latch malfunctioned, it has been difficult not to feel responsible. As a sanctuary, our promise is to provide the animals in our care with a safe haven, so when something happens — even something beyond our control — that guilt can feel incredibly heavy.
We are extremely grateful for every kind comment, prayer, & word of encouragement we have received. Through a friend, we learned that the unicorn himself, Adios Pantalones, broke his nose while having too much fun in his pasture, crushing an airway, but returned stronger than ever & went on to help Tricia Aldridge earn the 2025 WPRA Reserve World Championship. Hearing stories about other horses who have recovered has been incredibly comforting!
For now, we are choosing to focus on the little horse happily playing with his ball, triple check every gate, & thank God that He was with him that night!
Keep healing, George, & please watch out for that fence ❤️🩹
