Domino the horse gets lucky thanks to the Hope Fund

Much loved horse, 13-year old Domino, was viciously attacked by an assailant with a knife and hammer, while grazing in his field 18 months ago. The assault left him suffering horrific lacerations across his shoulder and face. He required hours of surgery and months of follow up care but due to the complexity of his wounds, a year and a half later, despite everyone’s best efforts, Domino still had one remaining wound to resolve. That was until the Veterinary Wound Library HOPE fund made it possible to bring in a very special surgeon to fix him for Christmas.

Following his initial attack, Domino had many hours of surgery at Towcester Equine Vets to close the wounds on his face and shoulder. Although the care he received was exemplary and supported by generous donations from the public and the fund-raising efforts of his owner, Tracey Nash, there remained a hole (called a fistula) in his face which extended into a space beneath the bone over his cheek. The missing bone and tissue meant that the fistula would not heal, so Domino needed daily wound cleaning and protection as well as antibiotics for frequent, intermittent infections, which could eventually have caused him severe health complications.

Finally, despairing of a solution, Towcester veterinary team and Tracey asked Georgie Hollis, Founder of the Vet Wound Library for help. This was the fourth case of a fistula that Georgie had been involved in and she knew that this would be very difficult to repair. She contacted a veterinary specialist to see if he could help Domino, “I was appalled at Domino's ordeal and the terrible situation that Tracey had to face. This was going to be a challenging wound to heal. I knew we had to help.”

Georgie also decided to support Domino through her newly formed HOPE Fund – a charity which will help animals like Domino that need repeated treatments to repair difficult wounds.

Georgie contacted European Specialist in Equine Surgery, Dr. Dylan Gorvy, BVSc PhD Dipl. ECVS, part owner and head of surgery at Mälaren horse clinic near Stockholm in Sweden. She had worked with him before and after explaining Dominio’s story, he came up with the proposal plan for surgery and provided his expertise on a minimal cost basis for the Veterinary Wound Library HOPE Fund.

The surgery was performed on the 2nd of November at the Towcester practice and Georgie says the team could not have been happier with how it went, “We have received regular updates from Tracey and the practice and were initially cautious about whether the procedure had worked. Thankfully, we can now confirm that it has a complete success and we are all absolutely delighted that Domino can enjoy Christmas without experiencing pain or infection.”

She continued, "The plan for the Hope Fund is to support the cost of specialists and specialist techniques for veterinary patients of all shapes and sizes with the most challenging wounds. Domino’s case will be used to teach others how to approach these challenging wounds and I know that the lessons learned can help improve the outcomes for patients in the future."

Dr. Gorvy is very satisfied with the outcome of the complex procedure, which involved creating two flaps – one made of a thin layer of tissue called periosteum that lies over the bone and one of muscle – both of which had to be rotated to cover the wound. He said, “Domino was a fantastic patient during both the surgery and the recovery. The wound has now completely healed after just four weeks and finally, he can live a normal life again, after suffering such a horrendous injury. I’m so pleased to have been able to help him.”

Tracey says she is over the moon to know that Domino is safe and well after all he has been through, “I can’t explain how shocked I felt when I found Domino – I thought I was going to lose him. He’s been through so much and I can’t thank the people who have helped him enough: Towcester vets, Dr Gorvy and Georgie and her team at the Veterinary Wound Library and of course all the people who made donations. They have all gone above and beyond in their efforts to restore Domino to health. We’ll never forget that terrible night but people have been so kind and on behalf of Domino and myself, we offer our heartfelt thanks for everything they have done.”

Anyone wishing to make a donation to the Hope Fund can do so here: https://donorbox.org/vet-wound-library-hope-fund

Note to editors: Photos of Domino's original injury are available on request - please note these may be distressing.