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!