Night Hawk was in such terrible condition that the man hired to transport him to his new home refused to trailer him
for fear that he would go down in the trailer and injure himself further. The woman felt that she was in over her head
and called HPS and asked them to help save this horse.
When Night Hawkarrived at the sanctuary, he was rated 1.5 on the Hennecke Scale. His wound had been left untreated
too long for suturing. The vet cleaned away the necrotic tissue and placed him antibiotics. Night Hawk was a good
patient and seemed to understand that HPS members were helping him as they cleaned and treated his wound twice a day for several
weeks.
Night Hawk recovered from his wounds and has gained back the weight he lost. Unfortunately, he has developed DSLD
(Degenerative Suspensory Ligament Disease) also know as dropped pasterns. We often see this in horses that were ridden
very hard (either for long periods of time or by heavy riders) when they were still in a starved state. As the
horse gains his weight back, his ligaments can no longer support the animal and start to deteriorate. This condition
is considered uncurable.
