Lois Bates Acheson Veterinary Teaching Hospital

Dottie, a red roan pinto mustang, was picking her way through the forest along a ridgeline in the Oregon Coast Range. Lydia Dedera, Dottie’s trainer, was riding her alongside Casey Lambert and her horse Nashville as they paralleled a logging road. The two women and two horses were volunteering on a search and rescue mission. “We were the only horses out there that day because it was raining,” Dedera said. As Dottie navigated the ridgeline, she stepped over a pile of sticks with her front legs. “She went to put her back end over,” Dedera said. “And when her back feet came up to hop over, they sunk into the ground several feet and she fell onto the sticks.” Dedera quickly hopped off and let Dottie “find her way out of the sinkhole.” Dedera then gave Dottie a once over. She didn’t see anything amiss. They continued the search. About 10 minutes later, Dedera hopped back off Dottie to check something on the ground. “And when I turned around to get back on, I noticed something was wrong with Dottie. She was holding her leg out a little bit, which was not like her,” Dedera said. “And so I look under her stomach, and that's when I saw about seven inches of intestine that were hanging down.”