AUSTIN, Texas — A heroic six-year-old quarter horse named Phoenix, who suffered a severe injury while assisting in search and rescue efforts during last month’s devastating floods in Central Texas, is on the path to recovery thanks to an innovative therapy.
Phoenix and his owner, Kendall Higgins, were among the first search and rescue groups on the scene in Leander after initially aiding efforts in Kerrville. “Day one of search and rescue when we went up to the hill country, we were in Kerrville. We were with a large group of mounted, and we were successful in our searches there,” said Higgins.
While searching for survivors, Phoenix was sucked into quicksand, resulting in life-threatening injuries. “There was debris buried in the quicksand. And he had cut his leg on it on his way out. He had severed an artery, a tendon, his hock joint became septic, which is why his injuries were life-threatening, and he pulled muscles and had a possible hairline fracture on his cannon bone,” Higgins explained.
With surgery not an option due to sepsis, Dr. Kyle Grogger, a veterinarian, said, “We were kind of successfully able to get that kind of tapped and do some initial flushing. We got him on systemic antibiotics, I warned Kendall from the beginning, you know, it’s a pretty, sometimes a guarded prognosis.”
However, a specialized hyperbaric chamber in the Brazos Valley has given Phoenix a second chance. Dr. Ben Buchanan, another veterinarian, said, “The wound from the initial trauma just kind of hit a plateau and isn’t healing, and so one of the things that this chamber can do between pressure and increased levels of oxygen is remove edema from the tissues so that the leg isn’t as swollen. And then force oxygen into the tissues, which starts the healing process again.”
The hyperbaric horse chamber is one of only about a dozen in the country. “So we’re excited that Phoenix gets to be the first source to treat in the chamber. We’re excited that the wounds looking better, you know, after a couple of treatments already and so we’re looking forward to how well he does,” Buchanan added.
Thanks to the dedicated team of veterinarians, Higgins and Phoenix are optimistic about the future. Higgins hopes to continue training Phoenix with mounted search and rescue groups once he is fully healed.