Injured Horse Treated at Nariman Point by Dr. Amit Sharma

On 30th of September, as soon as I returned to my home at 10.00 pm after examining the horses at Five gardens and Vadala, I received a call from Shiva from Nariman Point stating that his horse has met with an accident with a taxi and he I bleeding profusely. The voice of Shiva was broken and he sounded panicky so I advised him to apply ice wrapped in a cloth on the wound with mild pressure.

After reaching there I found that there was a deep penetrating wound at the breast of horse and muscles were deeply ruptured. Immediately I located the major bleeders and ligated them. Then one by one muscles were sutured and finally the skin. The guardian and handlers almost lose hope for him but when horse stood up after the operation, they all were relieved. It was already 3.00 am in the night and I was extremely hungry, therefore we went for dinner at a hotel after operation.

Next day when I went there to see his condition, I was satisfied to see that he is no more in pain and with his silent eyes he was saying thanks to all those staff of IDA who supported and put in their efforts to relieve him from agonizing pain. His guardian was surprised and happy with the promptness with which his horse was attended. Then we did root cause analysis (RCA) of his condition. After long discussion and brain storming, all the guardians and handlers concluded that horses should not be forced to run fast in the cart. Secondly the improper shoeing and hoof trimming leads to inability of horse to stop suddenly. Shiva said that, “I have learned a lesson of my life time not to overstress my horse to run.”

It will take time to heal, till then he is on rest. I try to attend to it every alternate day at least for first one week.