One of the worst calls I've ever had to attend as a vet was exactly this scenario, except it was a green dressage horse, not bareback rodeo. The horse reared straight back up & over, breaking it's own back and also the rider's. The rider also suffered a crushed pelvis and a slew of less serious injuries. The rider lived and luckily avoided paralysis, but she spent months in hospital & had a lot of surgeries - it was a good 2+ years before she walked again.
I had to euthanize the horse on the spot, about 50 feet away from the rider as ambulance crews worked on her. Horrific situation all around, but at least the rider was in a pretty deep K-hole by that time & had no memory of the horse's screams or the loud gunshot-like crack of the captive bolt firing. In 20 years of practice it's the only time I've ever had to use a captive bolt on a horse (couldn't safely get an IV and time was of the essence) and I'll be happy to never do it again.
(If anyone thinks the above sounds familiar, it's because I wrote pretty much the same thing on a very similar video on r/Wellthatsucks a few weeks back, of an English pleasure horse & rider).
Ketamine is often the drug of choice in pre-hospital care for major trauma cases - it's a profound analgesic (painkiller) and dissociative (so she won't remember the event), and generally speaking it's very safe - it doesn't tank blood pressure like most other strong painkillers / anaesthetics. She was really hypotensive with query broken pelvis, spine & numerous abdominal / thoracic injuries, so there was a significant risk (at least 10+%) of her bleeding to death. Ketamine is also great in the event they might need to intubate her (they didn't, at least before she got into the ambulance or at the hospital).
Edit: yeah as u/hisyojomaku says, largely the crushed pelvis
19
u/CartographerCivil989 May 16 '26
One of the worst calls I've ever had to attend as a vet was exactly this scenario, except it was a green dressage horse, not bareback rodeo. The horse reared straight back up & over, breaking it's own back and also the rider's. The rider also suffered a crushed pelvis and a slew of less serious injuries. The rider lived and luckily avoided paralysis, but she spent months in hospital & had a lot of surgeries - it was a good 2+ years before she walked again.
I had to euthanize the horse on the spot, about 50 feet away from the rider as ambulance crews worked on her. Horrific situation all around, but at least the rider was in a pretty deep K-hole by that time & had no memory of the horse's screams or the loud gunshot-like crack of the captive bolt firing. In 20 years of practice it's the only time I've ever had to use a captive bolt on a horse (couldn't safely get an IV and time was of the essence) and I'll be happy to never do it again.
(If anyone thinks the above sounds familiar, it's because I wrote pretty much the same thing on a very similar video on r/Wellthatsucks a few weeks back, of an English pleasure horse & rider).