Dr. Betsy was called immediately to evaluate and treat the injury. To facilitate exam and treatment of the would Sanny was initailly given a tranquilizer injection that included pain medication. Deep probing of the injury revealed that there was extensive damage to the mandible (jaw bone) and multiple large loose fragments of bone present. Despite the extensive damage, Sanny was very fortunate. Her linguofacial vein (large branch of the jugular vein) was visibly exposed--protruding from the wound, but was not damaged. Damage to that vein would have caused very serious blood loss! She was also fortunate that the fractures in her jaw bone did not cause loss of function of her jaw--she was still able to chew--something a horse needs to do!

Sanny received x-rays of her jaw the following day, and the results indicated that she had a fracture extending into a tooth root of one of her molars.  It is likely that the effected tooth will have to be extracted in the future, but time will tell.

Attached photos are of Sanny one month after the initial injury and she is doing AWESOME! Her wound is almost completely healed. She will likely have some follow up x-rays in the near future to evaluate her injured tooth, but Sam says she's doing great and eating well!