Santana Saves A life Today

Wow. What a day today. We went out for our second ever solo ride in the mountains, which is part of a park system. When we got to the trail head, there was another trailer there with three riders, a man pon a big palomino, and two women on sorrels, just getting ready to head out on the trail. I noticed they were gaited horses as they left. Wanting to be sure to distance Santana from them, I waited a few minutes before heading out, even though I didn't know which trail they were taking, as the trail divides many times as you get down the trail from the trailhead. When I was satisfied they were far enough off, I mounted Santana, and off we went. He was nice and calm, and happy to be going up the trail. It was a beautiful day. We probably were about two miles in, and I noticed the man on the big palamino, coming at us, head-on,FAST. Not wanting to freak my young horse out, I flagged him down, and asked him to slow down to pass. He actually stopped, breathing hard, as was his horse, and said they had a wreck. His horse kicked another and it was bad. None of them had any first aid supplies with them, he was on his way back to the trailer to get some.
Now, people tease me all the time about the fly-fishing vest I wear EVERY ride. This vest is FULL of first aid and survival supplies, should me and my horse part ways. I asked him where they were, and he told me about a mile and a half up the trail. He had already called a vet. I explained to him that I was on a green horse, and offered him my vest to take back, but he was not very rational, and said no, he'd go back, and he had called a vet. He then took off again. Santana was a little excited about this horse flying away, but he was a GOOD boy, kept four-on-the-floor, and barely told me he wanted to chase that horse down. I knew if I could get to the hurt horse fast enough, I could help, as I had my trusty fishing vest on, with vet wrap, duct tape, and diapers. So, I told Santana we had to GO. Mind you, he doesn't know how to properly gait yet, or do anything really other than walk. Well, he hit a little rack-a-lope type thing, and we were off! We got to the injured horse in just a few minutes. I wasn't prepared for what I saw when I got there. Blood everywhere, caked down her front leg. She got hit at the top of her leg, about 4 inches down. (see pic) and the lady said, "see what happens if I let go?" And blood just gushed out like a garden hose turned on. Obviously an artery had been ruptured, and this was not good at all. They had used T-shirts, and they were totally drenched through. They had nothing to stop the bleeding with. The bleeding had to be stopped or this mare was going to bleed to death right there on the trail. I handed Santana's lead rope to the other lady, took off my vest and went tot work. I wrapped two diapers around the leg, and then duct taped the crap out of that. It was very tight. Then I took a roll of vet wrap, and went around all of that. The horse was getting shocky, but her respirations were good. She was calm, and didn't move a muscle the whole time. I told the lady she HAD to get a vet out here, that I wouldn't recommend her moving this mare until a vet could either stitch it, or properly wrap it to where she was safe to move. I called the ranger station and asked if there was a quad available. Nope. The man was back by now, and said the vet he called couldn't get to us. So we called Arizona Equine Center, which happens to be my clinic. They have lots of vets, and someone is always on -call. Sure enough, they could come. By now, over 45 minutes has passed. I was able to clean the mares leg off below the bandages to see if I got the bleeding stopped. I had!!!! I felt better, and I was anxious for the vet.
Now, while al this craziness in going on, Santana just hung out with the other lady, Lynn, who was also holding her horse. (the kicker was the man's horse.)Thats him hanging out in the top picture top this page. Thats Lynn, and her horse behind Santana about two feet. I was so proud of how patient he was being during all of this. He stood for an hour and a half total, on the trail, never moving around, just being very, very patient. What a good boy.
The man left again to go see if he could bring his trailer in closer to the mare. Even when he took off, Santana was calm, and didn't act like it was any big deal. We had to coordinate someone meeting the vet and getting her to the horse. I had my GPS, and was able to give an exact location. Now it was just a waiting game. The bleeding appeared to be stopped with the pressure bandage, and her eye looked better, and she looked better than when I got there. After about another half an hour, we saw the man's truck and trailer coming up an access road maybe a quarter mile "cross country" from where we were. The vet wa behind her, as was a sheriffs deputy and the park ranger. The Cavalry!!!!! Turns out, the vet was Santana;s vet. They had to hike the quarter mile or so cross country through the mountainous desert to get to us. The vet had her technician and her husband with her. Lots of help! Wen she got to us, she saw all the blood soaked t-shirts, hands, arms, pants and ground. There really was blood, and lots of it, everywhere. She asked me what I did to the leg, and how I wrapped it. I told her, and she said, "good. You saved this horse's life." She applied another big puffy bandage over the one I put on, and they decided it was ok to walk the mare to the mans trailer, now less than a quarter mile away. From there, they would take her to the hospital where Dr. Robinson would take the best of care of her. The ladies thanked me profusely, and took my cell number so they could call to let me know how "Fancy" was doing.
When the other horses left to head to the trailer, Santana picked his head up as if to say, "wait, you're leaving??" By this time, it had been over an hour and a half of him just standing there, calm, calm, calm, waiting for me to finish whatever it was I was doing. He wasn't sour or upset about his new friends leaving, just aware. He did whinny once. That was it.
But we weren't done with our solo ride!!! So off we went. We did another 5 miles of hard terain, remote area. We never saw another person the whole time. He was such a good boy.
We got back to the trailer after a very eventful five hours total.
What did I learn rom all this?
I learned that I need to carry more duct tape. the mini-rolls are great, but one wasn't really enough. Carry two. Carry more diapers. Had I needed to use any for us after this incident, I would have been S.O.L.
I learned that my young, 4 year old can handle stressful situations like it is no big deal, and that he is a very trustworthy mount, even in the worst of situations.