# FlipFlops are a bad idea *WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGE*



## DimSum (Mar 28, 2012)

This image should serve as a warning and a reminder that flip flops are not appropriate to wear at the barn. This image is from a 4H group leader whose teen wore flip flops when she was working with her horse. Unfortunately she got stepped on. The injury is pretty bad, but could have been much much worse. 

_NOTE: The parents of this teen have encouraged the reposting of this image in hopes that it spares someone their daughter's pain so folks know I'm not just doing this for the gross out factor. 

_


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## Maple (Jan 10, 2012)

Oh Lordy!! The poor girl!

I used to wear flipflops to the barn back when I was a teen and spent more time hangin around then riding. We all did, but discarded out flipflops for proper footwear when handling the horses. Silly, silly girl. She won't be doing that again in a hurry.


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## Roperchick (Feb 1, 2010)

Hermehgerd whyyyyy did I click this?

Oooouuuuch man I admit I wear flip flops out to the barn if I'm just gonna chill on them and read a book or something. But as soon as im on the ground near rheir clod hoppers I definitely wear boots
I remember a few years ago our big made Sugar stepped on my moms foot (she had boots on) and she still managed to tear off her nail on her big toe and got deep deep bruising on her foot.


Hope the girls alright and heals up fast!!


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## Country Woman (Dec 14, 2011)

Being a 4 h leader and the mom I would have mentioned not to wear flip flops 
around horses


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## DimSum (Mar 28, 2012)

The teen had been warned and was quite experienced. Can't watch them every minute of the day. The kid faces a lot of surgeries and a long recovery all for "it'll only be a minute what could happen"


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## Farmchic (Mar 2, 2013)

I am guilty of wearing flip flops out to feed  this picture will sure make me thin twice before doing it again.


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## Maple (Jan 10, 2012)

Roperchick said:


> I remember a few years ago our big made Sugar stepped on my moms foot (she had boots on) and she still managed to tear off her nail on her big toe and got deep deep bruising on her foot.
> 
> 
> Hope the girls alright and heals up fast!!



I had a 3yo TB I was prepping for sales jump on my foot about 8 years ago.. I was wearing paddock boots - to this day when my foot is overly cold/warm I can clearly see the shape of the shoes, including the nails, on my foot. After seeing that, I'm just imaging if I had worn flipflops :shock:


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## Phly (Nov 14, 2012)

Thats gonna leave a mark!!!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Samstead (Dec 13, 2011)

DimSum said:


> The teen had been warned and was quite experienced. Can't watch them every minute of the day. The kid faces a lot of surgeries and a long recovery all for "it'll only be a minute what could happen"


she shouldn't have been allowed to work with the horse without proper foot wear, at your barn on your property sure do what you want but when it's with a 4H group where someone else is liable for your safety, no, boots or other close toed shoes only.


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

I had a similar injury and I was wearing my boots. It was a real severe crush injury and resulted in 3 surgeries and I still have a lot of pain and swelling in that foot. It's been 3 years now and pretty much as good as it will get. If I'd been wearing flip flops I'd have lost my foot at the very least. 

Wear proper foot gear at all times, you never know when someone will step on you.


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

With horses, doing work with heavy objects, PROPER FOOTWEAR!!!


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## BornToRun (Sep 18, 2011)

Oh my goodness, weak in the knees, weak in the knees! 
I love my boots, I love my boots, I love my boots, I love them, I'm gonna wear them everyday, no matter how hot it is outside!!


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## Ebony2Rose (Jun 18, 2010)

I have totally had that happen to me. Thank god I pushed her off of me instead of yanked back, or my foot probably would of looked like that. Another tip (I'm no expert, but I've been stepped on multiple times so I'm assuming this is true.) If stepped on DON'T panic and pull back. Thats when the flesh is generally torn. Instead, if possible, push the horse's should/hindend off you.


eta: then again my horse isn't shod, she is barefoot.


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## Roperchick (Feb 1, 2010)

Speaking of boots though, steel toed boots are just as dangerous sometimes.

I had a friend that had 2 toes CUT OFF when his horse stepped on his boot and the steel toe bent and cut through his middle toes.


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

^^^^Those are substandard steel toed boots then. Around here, for workplaces anyways, all boots with steel toes are required to be Canadian Standard Association approved, CSA stamp on it. What happens if you drop a steel beam on your foot at work? If your toes got cut off from the steel plate in the toe, Worker's Compensation would be all over that and make them change the design.


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## aforred (May 12, 2010)

I was always taught not to wear steel toes when working with large livestock.


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## Country Woman (Dec 14, 2011)

I am happy she won't do this again


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## Misty'sGirl (Oct 22, 2007)

I got stepped on and even though I was wearing boots I still thought my toe was broken. I can't imagine wearing flip flops, I actually feel sick


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## toto (Mar 3, 2013)

Ouchie! One of my old appy mares (1200 pound 14 hander) left a bruise on my foot i n that same exact pattern.. with boots on!! if ida been wearin flipflops sheda tore my foot right off! my 900 pound walkin horse can bend the steel in my steeltoe boots! 
Ive had horses break the bones in my feet wearin boots too.. i wouldnt ever wear flipflops out to the barn but i will admit i sometimes kick my shoes off while ridin-- makes me definitely think twice about it.

I feel bad for the poor child- but a lesson was learned that day.. and an important one!


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## MsLady (Apr 18, 2013)

Poor thing! This is such a sad way to learn a lesson. I pray she heals quickly and isn't in too much pain.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Roadyy (Feb 9, 2013)

Reminds me of the scene from "Hondo" with John Wayne where the kid keeps asking to pet the dog and is told the dog bites. Finally the kid reaches to pet the dog and gets bitten. Mother runs over and asks why he let him pet the dog if he knew it bites. Kids learn by their mistakes, the kid learned the dog bites.


The girl learned flip flops are a bad idea around hooves. I hope she recovers and has minimal physical scarring.


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## Charley horse (Nov 12, 2012)

Oh that poor girl!!!
I am so not wearing my flip flops anymore around the horses! agh!!!


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## nvr2many (Jan 18, 2011)

Oh wowwwwww!! Makes my stomach turn and feet hurt. Hard to look at.
What is the extent of damage?? Broken bones, nerve damage?? Just curious. Looks like one of those plastic foot things at the Dr.'s office with the skin removed to see all the insides. Yikes!


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## nuisance (Sep 8, 2011)

Farmchic said:


> I am guilty of wearing flip flops out to feed  this picture will sure make me thin twice before doing it again.


I do too, or even barefoot!


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## beau159 (Oct 4, 2010)

Yuck!!!

This is why I ALWAYS wear appropriate footwear when I'm working with my horses. Even if I have to pull on my boots with no socks ... those tootsies are going to have protection on them!


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## morganarab94 (May 16, 2013)

Yep I love my boots, love them! I am never wearing flip flops to feed again. Ugh! Hopefully she heals ok, that just looks terrible!


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## DimSum (Mar 28, 2012)

nvr2many said:


> Oh wowwwwww!! Makes my stomach turn and feet hurt. Hard to look at.
> What is the extent of damage?? Broken bones, nerve damage?? Just curious. Looks like one of those plastic foot things at the Dr.'s office with the skin removed to see all the insides. Yikes!


Well, not to be even more graphic but the skin was peeled off the foot...kinda like a banana. They cleaned the flap and replaced it, hoping it will take again. Yes, broken bones and nerve damage as well.


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## Chevaux (Jun 27, 2012)

Now that I've recovered from my faint, I'm able to ask: Was the horse shod?


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## DimSum (Mar 28, 2012)

Yes, I believe so.


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## WSArabians (Apr 14, 2008)

Well... That'll learn ya. 
Ouchie.


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## MySerenity (Jul 18, 2011)

2 summers ago my old horse stepped on my foot and then twisted her hoof. I swear she was trying to inflict maximum damage. I had boots on (always do) but she still tore the toenail out of the bed on one side. I can't describe how much that hurt. The toe nail is about half way grown back (after falling off completely) and still hurts, even throbs, pretty often. 

Seeing people wearing flip flops has always made me cringe and now I have a visual to go along with it.


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## Honeysuga (Sep 1, 2009)

I used to wear flip flops and tennis shoes around the horses. Thank gosh the worst injury I got was when my pony stepped on my foot and left a bruise.

My little mustang gelding stepped on my foot and twisted a few years ago. Hurt a lot and dented my thick roughstock boots but did very little damage. Had I not been wearing my boots, I fear I would have fared much worse!

Kids will be kids and most have to learn the hard way. The op is right, you cant watch them every second. It is sad that she was injured so severely, but now her 4h friends have a clear and visible example of why they need to wear proper footware when working around horses and other large animals.


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## DimSum (Mar 28, 2012)

In fact her parents are urging other leaders to print off the pic and post it around the tack rooms as a "visual aide"


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## Wild Heart (Oct 4, 2010)

Poor girl, I hope she heals up quickly....Can't even begin to imagine how painful that would be. :-(


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## busysmurf (Feb 16, 2012)

I just want to know how it wasn't swollen up to the size of a watermelon??
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## xxdanioo (Jan 17, 2012)

Is this recent? I swear I see this photo every summer.


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## SleipnirCB (Jun 5, 2012)

Wow, I hope she heals properly and that there will be minimal permanent damage. :/

I wear safety boots when I am around my horse. They have steel toe caps and you can't even feel it if they step on your toes by accident.


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## AlexS (Aug 9, 2010)

My barn owner just freaked on me for going into the pasture in flips. It would be a cold day in hell before my horse stood on me though. He then freaked at my lack of a pedicure - please I am a horse woman, I mean who does that? 

I am joking about what looks like a very painful injury. I am sorry that this girl is a lesson for all of us.


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## Roadyy (Feb 9, 2013)

xxdanioo said:


> Is this recent? I swear I see this photo every summer.


Even if so it is a good thing to pass around about this time every year for the new horse people.


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

Sometimes we have to learn the hard way
I broke my foot and had all the skin scraped off it when a usually sensible horse trod on my when I was wearing trainers and an experienced friend who also should have known better lost 2 toes when an equally quiet horse suddenly spooked when she was leading it and trod on her


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## Copperhead (Jun 27, 2012)

Ive seen this pic before so it didnt really surprise me. It's a good reminder that you need to protect your feet.

I'm an avid flip flop wearer when the weather gets warm but I always wear boots to the barn. It's out of safety and out of habit. I took my shoes off once to walk around the barn when I was a kid and it felt weird and wrong. It's been boots ever since.


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## Celeste (Jul 3, 2011)

Boots and shorts look great together anyway. Well, at my house they do. 
Another thing about flipflops. If you go around horses, you are going to get very dirty feet.


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## Back2Horseback (Mar 21, 2012)

Purely from a medical perspective, some immediate thoughts:

Skin was torn in a fairly suture-able pattern, however, for the sake of cleaning the wound and the no doubt severe swelling which has ensued since this photo was taken, I'd imagine it will probably be left at least partially open.

Depending upon what bones are fractured and how severely, they will likely preform an open reduction, internal fixation. She will very probably lose all of the skin atop the foot, anyhow, as feet can be notoriously horrid in terms of wound healing, even in healthy teens with excellent perfusion (very hard getting ample enough supplies of healthy blood to those tissues so near the toes to clean the wound and allow for rapid healing.

She (poor girl!) is no doubt looking at potentially a full year of surgery/wound care/OT & PT to get anywhere near "normal". She will have a very high risk for infection, and a need for some serious restructuring of that foot. Its so odd to me how with the body, these non-life-threatening injuries can often be worse in terms of healing than more "significant" injuries which occur closer to the central part of the body!

Anyhow, I pray for as rapid as possible recovery for this girl who didn't do anything "deserving" of this type of sufferring. She merely made a common teen "error" of not listening to rational concepts, such as wearing protective footwear at the barn at all times!


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