Glad I wasn't wearing flip-flops!

Miakoda

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#1
I'll admit it: I often wear flip-flops around the barn. I scoop my pasture in flip-flops. I clean stalls in flip-flops. I groom horses and clean hooves in flip-flops. When you consider how hot and humid
it is, I do pretty much live in flip-flops. Which is why it's odd that I put on my old tennis shoes before walking out to the barn. But boy am I thankful!

I was cleaning Raja's hooves, like I do every day, when he suddenly jerked his leg from me and stomped his right hind hoof down on my foot. I slapped him to move, and instead of moving his hindquarters, he pivoted his upper body away, with all his weight being put upon his right hind leg. Which was planted on my right foot.

Final verdict: 2 broken toes, 2 missing toenails, 3 toes with cuts and missing skin, a broken foot, and a mild ankle sprain.

I am very thankful I made the rare decision to put shoes on, and I'm thankful Raja only weighs about 800 lbs.

I know all the reasons why we should wear proper footwear, so I don't need a lecture. ;). But I will say that this served up a good reminder for me, and those like me, who may have gotten too comfortable. :)
 

Xandra

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#6
Ooooo ouch!!! When I was 11 a pony stepped on my big toe and it throbbed all night, turned black, nail fell off etc-- I can only imagine what your foot must feel like!! Very lucky you wore shoes this time! Hope you recover quickly!
 

Romy

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#7
Ouchie!!! Hope your foot feels better soon. This is exactly why I'll never own a horse. :p Folks joke about malinois people being crazy because they accept their own dogs biting them and whatnot, but then there's horse people that get their bones smashed and are all like, oh well. lol. You're totally not the first horse person I've seen injured like this and just shrug it off like nothing out of the ordinary.
 

Snark

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#9
Ouch! Vibes for a speedy recovery!

I always wear muck boots with pant legs tucked in, no matter how hot, just because the last time I wore sneakers, I wound up with an ungodly amount of little seed ticks running up my legs. Ewwwww!
 

BostonBanker

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#10
Yikes, glad it wasn't worse! I've let some things slide over the years around horses, but footwear isn't one of them. Forget getting stepped on - the amount of bacteria, worms, etc on the ground around horses worries me more!
 
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#11
Y'ouch Ive been there (minus the broken bones) and I WAS in flipflops tbh I dont know how I lived through childhood. (((vibes))) for a speedy recovery.

(side note- ewwwww feet) :p
 

Miakoda

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Yikes, glad it wasn't worse! I've let some things slide over the years around horses, but footwear isn't one of them. Forget getting stepped on - the amount of bacteria, worms, etc on the ground around horses worries me more!
I'm pretty much OCD with washing my hands and feet. :D
 

Doberluv

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#13
Oh man, that looks painful. Here's to a speedy recovery.

When I was a teen and would ride my horse in the summer, I loved to ride bare footed. My parents both told me that I mustn't ever, ever, ever work around a horse without good shoes or my cowboy boots, that it's absolutely not good horsemanship. LOL. So, I'd brush my horse, do all the stuff that you do while on the ground near a horse, and get him ready for a ride with my shoes on. Then I'd take them off right before getting on and go for a ride and put them back on just as soon as I got back to the barn. I rode bareback and loved having my bare feet just dangle with the breeze.

So...I hope your poor foot heals up soon. And now for the lecture: Don't ever, ever, ever wear flip flops around a horse again

(You didn't think you could get off completely Scott free, did you?):p
 

Dekka

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#14
I'd be a fan of steel toed boots if I worked around horses with any regularity.
That is worse. Most horses are well over 800 pounds (He must be tiny Mia!) My very slightly built 15hh arab cross is over 1000 without any extra weight. Measured at the Guelph. A good step on the foot can crush steel toes.. then you have steel plate crushing your feet.. not good.

Mia.. Hope you foot has a speedy recovery!
 

Doberluv

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#16
Yeah, about all tennis shoes or even leather boots can do for you is protect your skin. Oh, they might prevent a break, depending on how much weight goes behind it. My Arabs were probably around 900 to 1000 lbs. They were rather small. My bigger horse that I was talking about in my above post was probably 1200 lbs...He was a quarter horse/standardbred cross and 15.3 hands....all muscle. In either case, it hurt like the Dickens if you get stepped on, which happened occasionally, but thankfully without their full weight and they'd move their foot right away as I'd lean on their shoulder to push them off. They didn't mean to ever. It's just something that happens sometimes when you're not explicitly careful. I had a friend who said, "You have to learn how to run fast around dangerous horses." LOL.
 

Miakoda

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#18
Dekka, he might be closer to 850-875, but I would think closer to 850. He's just a barely-14 hh Arab. :)

I know it's backwards, but I kinda feel bad. I just went to the barn to feed them, and Raja bent down to sniff my boot, and then looked up at me with those sad puppy-dog Arabian eyes. He looked so sad. lol
 

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