I'm very happy to hear stories of horses falling on ice and it being a happy ending. Unfortunately, I have a not so happy ending. 3 weeks ago I found myself looking online for anything relative to a horse slipping on ice and recovering as my 28yr old Gelding (who is still very much active) slipped on an icy patch about 20ft by 30ft. This is very unusual that he would even go on the ice as all the other horses in the paddock avoided that spot. One of the neighbours found him and we have no idea how long he had been down for, but couldn't have been more than 3hrs. We rushed to help him up, but our only choice was to push him far off the ice towards the walk in. Once we got him as far off the ice as we could, we covered him with a blanket as his temperature had droped down to 32 celsius. By the time we got to him, he was exhausted. I called our vet and knowing his age, she assumed euthanasia. Upon her arrival (20 mins later, in which we were trying to get him up the whole time) she suggested turning him over onto his other side as the one under him was most likely injured or sore from being lied on for god only knows. One person held his head (so he wouldn't smack it on the ground again as his mouth was already bleeding) and 2 other people grabbed the legs underneath and we flipped onto his other side, we let him sit in the sitting position for a couple minutes and then with all our efforts, we pushed him up only for him to almost get there and fall back down. This is when we noticed his back leg was in a lock position, the vet checked his legs, even did xrays, nothing broken at least from the stifles down. We then decided he's had enough time to rest and to give it another go, this time pulling his tail towards his good leg to shift the weighted. We couldn't believe it, he was up, but not using the one leg that was originally under him. We pumped him full of fluids as he was dehydrated, pain meds and then gave him an opp to drink. The vet advised us that if he doesn't pee and poo by the end of the night, that there may be severe nerve or spinal cord damage, then magically, PEE!!! Yay, half way there. She advised us to keep him boarded up in the walk in with minimal movement just in case he had a broken pelvis (as she couldn't tell due to the swelling). He did poo that night to our relief and the vet had left us some steroid paste to give him as she thought that if not the pelvis (as everything else looked good and no swelling) he may have swelling on a nerve thats preventing his one leg from operating properly. We stayed up all night watching him as she had stated that if he goes back down in the next 24hrs and cannot get up on his own, then we were to give him a seditive/pain injection so keep him comfortable til she could get back. The morning came and he was still up, eating, drinkin, peeing, pooing and takin baby steps to get carrots. We decided to put seperator boards in and bring in one of his buddies to keep him company for the week until the vet could come check on him and let us know if he can head into the barn as this is where he really wanted to be. She came out 6 days later, but still couldn't tell if his pelvis was broken or fractured due to the swelling. She saw him being brave and taking steps, so decided that we slowly walk him into the barn, he made it. She advised on probiotics and some pain meds along with his cushings meds (did I mention he was diagnosed with cushings disease a year ago and is doing wonderfully). She said she would come back and check on him after 3 weeks of stall rest and decide if he should be taking small walks. Here's where it gets sad. 11 days after making it to the barn (17 since the original fall) Cody had fallen in his stall. We found him no longer than 3hrs as this is how often they are checked. I was sure if he attempted to lie down as the vet said most horses will not lay down after such an ordeal in fear of not getting up. All I know is that he was lying under his feed and water buckey full of sweat. He had that look of exhaustion and helplessness. This was not like him (in 18yrs of having him, he's never cast himself on a wall or even close) I knew he had fallen there. Again we pulled him away from the wall and tried to get him up twice with no luck, his heart rate was very slow and at one point when he was lying flat, I actually thought he was gone until I saw his eye slightly move. I called the vet and she suggested to give him the injection from before. I knew giving this to him would be the decision of ending his life as there was no getting him up once he received it, but I couldn't take looking at him. This was no life for Cody, locked in on stall rest, on pain meds and terrified lying on the ground. The truth was, he was miserable and would most likely never feel 100%. The vet arrived and told us she felt it was time, we agreed. It was very hard to make such a decision. I'm writing this very long post as 3 weeks ago, I would've have hoped to relate to someone about this. We buried Cody the next day on the farm next to his 30yr old Polish Arab buddy Kawod. He's in a better place now, pain and fear free. He didn't have shoes any time of the yeat as he was a pet that children could ride for fun and was ridden right up to before he died. We assume his pelvis was cracked and may have shattered completely after falling again. All we know is if it happened in the night, the decision may have been made for us by the next morning. You will forever be missed Cody!!!