Im having no luck at the mo - had murf n mais out at their usual weekday evening walk in the Hermitage. Both get off the lead here for romping around the woods & through the river etc & love going there....They had had a good 1.5hr gallop about hunting out rabbits & chasing each other up steep hills & through the trees as per usual.

We were heading back to the car - the pair of them bolted up a seriously steep hill to chase squirrals through the trees...they were out of sight (which is never a prob as they both have 100% recall) - i caught a glimpse of them through a gap in the bushes chasing each other at full pelt....

10 seconds later & this almighty crashing of wood/branches was heard...Murphy screamed in a way that i have never ever heard b4. My heart stopped & all I could hear, apart from him crying his eyes out, was the blood pumping through my head - I bolted up this steep embankment crappling onto tree roots to haul myself up - i was on hands & knees at one point it was so steep - roots were coming away in my hands....I called out to him frantically - he was still screaming in pain...then Maisie appeared at the top - waited for me to reach her & then ran in the direction of Murphy...

then i saw him, limping out of the woods on 3 legs. He was holding his hind limb at a horrible angle. The blood drained from my face...****, I seriously though he had broken it badly. He was caked head to toe in mud so had clearly summersaulted a few times. Honestly, i almost burst into tears on the spot. I ran my hands all over him & nothing felt out of place but he wouldnt put his hind leg down at all. We were about 600 yards away from the park entrance & then another 200 yards to my car so put Maisies lead on & scooped Murphy up & carried him all the way. Dear god!!! 27kgs soon feels like 127kgs!!

I got to the car (purple, sweating madly & about to keel over myself) & put them both in. It was 6pm & my vets had just shut so I came home. As soon as i was in the door I got some Metacam & Arnica into him & slathered an analgesic gel I have all over his thigh.

He slept for about an hour & has just had his dinner with a treat of cooked liver. he can now weight bear with a limp, but i was just checking him over again & found a hole at the top of his thigh which has obviously been pierced with a twig!! Gawds - i can see the muscle layer below but it doesnt appear damaged in itself - on goes the vet wound powder as it looked debris free....Ill give it a proper clean later on once its not so nippy...

Poor wee soldier!! It gave us both such a fright! Im pretty sure nothing is broken - but he has a large haematoma on his inside thigh so hopefully the arnica will deal with that quickly enough & the metacam will take away any swelling & pain. Ill get the vets at college tomorrow to check him over but I can see a good few days of bad bruising ahead - & a ton of TLC from mum :)

Might take some Metacam myself - my hands are torn to shreds!