A 2-year-old Spotted Saddle Horse filly near Fayetteville, N.C., has recovered completely from an attack last August in which her tail was set on fire and later had to be amputated. According to the horse’s owner and veterinarian, a drainage tract at the site of the amputation has healed and a soft-tissue leg injury sustained in the attack has resolved.

The filly, named Dixie, was attacked on the night of Aug. 19, while her owner, Vonda Hamilton, was out of town (for more information of her initial injuries and photos, see www.TheHorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=6074). Hamilton discovered the injury upon her return on Aug. 22; 80- 90% of the tail had been burned. Treating veterinarian Brian K. Garrett of Animal Hospital of Fayetteville had given the mare a 60% chance of survival on Aug. 22 due to concerns of potential septicemia (infection of the blood), and eventually had to amputate the tail on Sept. 1.

Since the attack, Dixie’s care has been a labor of love, involving continual cleaning and medication of the wound and eventually the amputation site, and constant administration of antibiotics. Hamilton stopped medicating the amputation site just before Christmas and discontinued oral antibiotics on Dec. 27.

Garrett said, “She’s about 100%; the only thing we were waiting on is she had a little draining tract–a fistulous tract–probably from some dead tissue from the injury and the burn. We removed that (the dead tissue) and put a drain tube in there. We’ve since removed the drain tube, and she’s healed up perfectly normal