10/15/2025
This could easily have ended poorly. A lot needed to go right. This day we were blessed that it went as planned.
Our youngest daughter Cassie met the horse Lou when he had just turned 2 and she was 6 just learning to ride English. They’ve been best friends ever since. Cassie is now 26 so we’ve had him for 20 years. Cassie rode him competitively and homeschooled several years to travel the country to various shows.
One day we had been in GR all day when Cheryl and I got a call saying the show horse Lou had injured himself by getting his rear leg caught in the round hay bale feeder. The Manistee Township Fire Dept and the DNR officer and a few Sheriff deputies had all converged to help free the trapped horse.
Then a vet was called who came out and concluded that she wanted nothing to do with trying to save his life, instead recommending we load him up and take him to MSU.
This was not realistic. By then it was 8 PM and we were still in GR. Doing the math, even if we got home and somehow he was able to load up in the trailer by 11 we wouldn’t be to MSU until 2 or three. Not assured he was in any condition to load up nor to survive the long bumpy ride we begged the vet to change her mind to no avail.
So we called another vet and he agreed to treat Lou's wound the next morning. Lou was touch and go all that next day and we prepared ourselves for the worst. The following morning we found him struggling to get up off the ground. It looked like the end.
But the vet was encouraging and, thinking we couldn’t “break what was already broke”, he told us the reason Lou cannot get up may simply be that he laid down on the side of his bad leg. He asked if we thought we could “roll him over.” The video shows how the strap held on long enough and did not let go too early as the tractor was able to adjust the angle of the pull.
So glad it worked. He’s a great family companion and we would have hated to lose him in this manner. Thank God for a vet with common sense and a goodgroup of willing first responders.
