“Tommasina Ashley was visiting New York City for her sister’s bridal shower last Thursday when she received an unsettling text message. Her 30-year-old horse, Danny, had been found in his stall with a 9-inch piece of wood wedged into his skull. Ashley was hours away from Danny’s home at Amelia Acres, a Hudson Valley farm. ‘I was in shock,’ the 42-year-old customer service representative told TODAY.com. ‘I was thinking, oh my God, he’s had a stroke. It was a mess.’ Miraculously, the wooden stake lodged in Danny’s forehead missed his left eye and brain by a few centimeters, rendering the caramel-colored thoroughbred in a foggy state of shock but still breathing. Danny was rushed to Rhinebeck Equine, where doctors took X-rays and discovered the wood had broken through his skull and entered a pathway leading to his oral cavity. His surgeon, Dr. Shannon Murray, said she hadn’t seen anything like it since medical school.” w/ photos
