When it Rains

Monday evening I went out to ride and TC didn't feel quite right. Obviously, I freaked out. He wasn't bad at all. He was sound at the walk and generally sound at the trot. It was just clear that he was a little bit uncomfortable. I didn't push my luck. I got off almost immediately and put him on the longe line. In about 5 circles each way, he probably bobbed his head like... four times. But that was enough for me.

I took him down to the barn and convinced myself that there was a swelling on the inside of his right front leg and that it was hot (when really I just poked it enough to make it warm from my own body heat). Then put him away and decided that if it was really a soft tissue injury, it would be swollen and hot the next day.

Surprise: it wasn't soft tissue, well, it doesn't seem to be

Tuesday evening I went out to see TC. I had decided that if his leg was swollen, I would ice it and if not, I would just walk him around the arena and work his brain but not put any strain on the leg. I had also come up with an entire rehab plan for a check ligament injury or a suspensory injury. You know, like you do.

I went to his stall and immediately touched his leg, which felt the same as the day before and wasn't hot. Obviously I freaked out again. Then I led TC out of his stall and he came up dead lame at the walk.

What... the... fuck...

Guess who got a cat tree because it was on sale?
She meowed at me ALL night from there.

I know soft tissue injuries. I know them well. Between riding on Monday for maybe 5 minutes to walking out of his stall on Tuesday, I can't imagine a soft tissue injury that would go from being maybe grade .5 lame at the trot one day to grade 3 lame at the walk the next day.

He was stabbing the ground with his toe, acting like he couldn't put weight on his heel, turning made him much worse. He was also very pathetic and sad, which I remedied with cookies and telling him how sad and pathetic he was. I started digging around in his foot and couldn't find anything interesting. No puss or goop came out anywhere. But there were two big crevices in his foot that I thought were a little more than normal, but they looked similar to the other side. I buted him and made plans to pick up a bucket and some thrush/abscess supplies at the tack store. Because the buckets I had were too small for his foot (oh my god) and I've never had a horse who was prone to thrush or abscesses.

I buted him overnight and then went home cursing my animals as I was still putting antibiotics in Jade's eye and am facing a vet bill with the dumb horse. I called my mom, both to ask her advice and to ask how Rico was. Rico so far is fine. So far...

Having so much fun

She's gained a bit of weight since I got her... 

Wednesday morning I set my alarm for 4:45am so that I could get up early and bute my stupid stupid horse before work. I got to the barn before dawn, like way before dawn, because I was able to bring him out, evaluate his soundness (still reluctant to weight the heel but seemed to be feeling a little better), pick out his feet (nothing interesting), give him cookies, tell him he was so sad, and give him bute, THEN drive the 45 minutes to work and it STILL wasn't dawn yet.

Wednesday evening I zipped to the store after work, got a massive rubber pan for his massive feet and some epsom salts. A storm is coming in so wrapping the foot isn't an option with how muddy his paddock is. It was dark once as I got to the barn, but I could still see that TC was super lame. I think the bute is mostly for me at this point. Plus, he dumps a lot of his grain on the ground because he's too excited about having grain to eat it, so it's not like he's getting much.

She loves it, also my house is really dark, wtf!

The foot soaking was as uneventful as I could have hoped for, especially because 1) he is four, 2) he loves to paw 3) he loves water 4) he loves to paw IN water 5) he is quite fit and 6) he hasn't been worked since Saturday. I had to stuff him full of cookies, I almost ran out and and would have had it not been for a nice lady who gave me a carrot.

Unfortunately the soaking basically did nothing. I can't find anything definite and I want to know what's going on. Called two vets yesterday (one booked until January and one didn't get back to me) and have another two on my list for today.

I love her poofy tail