“He’s going to be all right now, isn’t he, Doctor?” he asked anxiously.
“I wish I could say yes definitely, but I can’t, Jim. The battle has only begun. Only the simple part is over. I’m not going to kid you but tell you just what can and does happen in most cases.”
“O.K.,” said Jim grimly.
“A horse has one of the most sensitive nervous systems of all animals, which is the one thing that makes matters so difficult when they have an accident. They are particularly susceptible to any pain, which makes them writhe around, kick and do everything they shouldn’t when they have a broken bone. On the other hand, you can’t keep them quiet by keeping them under dope because their nervous system just won’t stand it for any length of time. That’s why a race horse seldom recovers from a broken leg—he’s such a nervous animal he won’t keep still.”
“Ticktock’s not nervous,” said Jim promptly.
“No, he’s a rather calm little pony, but on the other hand, he’s no placid cow. I’ve seen times when he acted pretty spirited; so it won’t be beer and skittles keeping him quiet. And you’ve got to do it. Now you notice how sloping a horse’s leg is. It’s difficult to keep a plaster cast in place—if the break were above the knee it would be next to impossible. The muscles in the leg are very powerful and if the horse starts moving, the contraction of those muscles is enough to pull the bones out of apposition, by that I mean out of line, and then he’s done for.”
“I’ll keep him quiet,” said Jim with determination. “I’ll stay right here beside Ticktock all the time.”
“It’ll be a long vigil,” said Dr. Cornby smiling sympathetically. “He’s going to be in that sling at least six weeks. Of course, the first two weeks are the most important. After that the bone has begun to knit and won’t pull apart so easily. Now the next thing is to keep him happy and eating. I don’t know how to tell you to do this. You know the horse and will have to figure it out for yourself. I’ve known some horses that would absolutely refuse to eat anything when they were in pain. In one case I tried feeding a horse through a tube to keep him alive. Now Ticktock shouldn’t be in pain after this, but he’ll be nervous being in that sling. You’ve got to keep him calm and happy enough to eat.”
Jim was not discouraged by this ominous warning. He felt confident that he could keep the mustang quiet and contented. Ticktock would eat for him.
“Now there’s one more problem,” said Dr. Cornby. “We’ll lower him in a few minutes so that some of his weight is resting on his feet. I think the way we have him set most of it will be on his hind feet. Each day we’ll put more weight on his feet until finally the sling will just be there to keep him from lying down and for him to use when he wants to rest. Now some horses never lie down to sleep. I’ve had farmers tell me that some of their horses have stood as long as a couple of years without lying down other than to roll when they were in the pasture. Still there’s danger when you force a horse to stand for six weeks in a sling that he might get laminitis, or founder.”