If it's not one thing, it's another...

While I'm happy to say that Pig's rain rot is clearing up (no new scabs for several days!), it seems he has found another way to annoy his back legs...
I am so jaded. You'll notice I didn't even bother to wash the blood off before wrapping him and riding.
 I came out on Monday to find this little laceration and swelling around the right hock. It looks like a kick, probably from the youngest gelding trying to regain control of the field. The joint doesn't have much heat, and the cut is very superficial, so I wasn't too worried. Plus, when I took Pig for a jog down the lane he was incredibly sassy. I had hopped on him bareback to trot him (easier to feel unsoundness than see it when you have to trot the horse yourself!), and the cheeky bastard attempted to buck me off and bolt!

Silly horse. I had to laugh at him. He was so very proud of his sassy self.

While he was great for the ride (and didn't give me a hint of unsoundness!), the swelling didn't go down much at first. I ended up giving him some bute, scrubbing out the cut, trimming the skin flap, and cold hosing the hock some to take the heat out. On Tuesday morning the barn manager sent me this:
Well that's less good...
The hock was HUGE. They gave him more bute and offered to cold hose for me. I got out there just a couple of hours later to find it much the same. Pig was still sound, so I rode again. Riding plus cold hosing managed to finally reduce the swelling some, confining it to an area at the lower part of the hock. I felt better about that.

Wednesday morning the barn manager checked him again for me, and reported that it looked better than Tuesday but was still pretty swollen and a little hot. I headed out and tacked him up for a lesson during which he was a perfectly sound gentleman, and was happy to find that the riding had finally taken down the swelling considerably. After a good deal of cold hosing, I finally felt better about the injury. I poulticed the leg to try to keep the heat out of it some more, and left him out again.

This morning I got this photo...
So much better!
That little bit of improvement meant Pig got to keep today as his day off (a horse needs at least one day off a week, right?! No? Maybe just I need the time off!), and I actually got to work on applications for a long bit of uninterrupted time.

I'm hoping the leg looks even better tomorrow morning. The swelling is bothersome to me, though his continued soundness makes me think it's probably just a bit of simple bruising that will resolve with time. Keep your fingers crossed! If it's not better, I'm thinking I might need to have the vet out to evaluate and possibly do a round of SMZs or something. I don't want this to turn into cellulitis.

It's a damn good thing I'm no longer neurotic about injuries, or this horse would have done me in years ago!
"Who me? Accident prone? Why I never!!"
... let's not even talk about that hoof bruise on his white foot. That a whole 'nother thing!

Comments

  1. Ack, hock swelling. Sound is good though. I see kick... Hock... Swelling and think of Mikey. Eek.

    It's so nice that your barn manager sends pictures of how things look! That's a keeper!

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    1. I know! You gotta believe you and Mikey were on my mind this week! I'm taking solace in the lack of lameness. If he does have some sort of bone chip, it must not be too serious. (The horse already has chips in a few other places that are a-okay, so I'm not willing to panic yet.)

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    2. Mikey started off crippled, got better and sound, then went slightly lame again. But we couldn't get the swelling to go away for longer than a day or so, and it just stayed thick. Chestnut TB's don't need matching hocks!

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  2. Man! He is accident prone. Hope the swelling stays down.

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  3. Fingers crossed it keeps healing well *hugs*

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  4. seriously- he and Irish MUST be related.

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    1. Out of a Mill Reef mare and by a Riverman son. You tell me! :)

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  5. Sigh. Oh, Pig. Glad the swelling is going down and he is sound on it! Fingers crossed he is just being the typical over-reactive TB that blows up at the slightest scratch.

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    1. I am reasonably certain it's not in relation to the scratch, but probably a bruise. He gets cuts all the time without his legs blowing up, I think otherwise he would be in a constant state of fat-leg. Wait...

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  6. gotta love the accident prone ones! My mare is the same way...and ive certainly become jaded too ;) Glad it healed up and you didnt lose any saddle time!

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  7. Silly pig! Glad it is getting under control, hock injuries scare me!!

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    1. Totally. I took some video, though, and he is totally sound on it. Weird.

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  8. Dear Pig: Knock it off. Love, Karen.

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    1. "Dear Karen. I SHALL NEVER SURRENDER. Love, Pig." ;)

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  9. Super impressed with the level of attention from the barn workers for a pasture boarded horse. Wow.

    Glad he is sound and on the mend. :-)

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    1. I know, right? Photos? Special feedings? They love him...

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  10. aw poor guy - hopefully it's just a case of blowing up like a typical a thin skinned TB, rather than anything else trying to brew in there!

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    1. I've got aaaaaaaaaall the fingers crossed!

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  11. Oh jeez. Thoroughbreds.

    I'm so freaked out by skin stuff on their legs that unless the leg is already swollen, I ignore any crud and wait for it to go away. Otherwise I send myself down the rabbit hole of trying to clear it up and I ALWAYS seem to make it worse. Blah.

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    1. I'm honestly pretty lucky. If Pig's legs swelled up with every cut, he'd look like the Stay Puff Marshmallow guy...

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  12. Sassypants. Always makes you feel a bit less sorry for their "boo boos" when they're full of themselves.

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