Ace came in very lame on a back leg last night. It took me a while to decide that he was not lame in both hind legs, just one, and to make sure that it was one leg and not his back. He was dragging his toe and when I put them to bed I was pretty sure that he had done something nasty to his stifle, because I could not find anything lower down to account for a severe lameness.
Thankfully, he was a lot better this morning, and I put him back in the barn to rest for the day so he would not be on a slippery muddy slope in the field. As he went back into the barn I could see from behind that one of his hocks was swollen down the inside above the joint compared with the other.
I had a feel, once he would let me, and there was swelling and a great amount of heat in a muscle leading down the inside of his leg to his hock. I rang my vet and asked him if there was any point in him coming out and he said there would not be anything that he could do*. He said to give him bute only if he needed it to make him comfortable, which I did not feel that he did.
After a day in the barn, he is much better this evening and hopefully tomorrow he will be even better still. Whew, I thought it was nasty for a while there!
Radar and I had a storming hack this morning in some lovely bright sunshine and unseasonably warm weather. The schooling is definitely helping him stay in balance for longer, though half-halts are still the name of the game most of the time.
More news on Ace tomorrow.
C
* less experienced owners should call the vet with a badly lame horse. I was able to identify where he was lame and describe it accurately to my vet because I have had so many horses for so long. People with less experience should not take any risk with swelling near a joint, it can be fatal if left.
Oh bugger...I hope its just a knock.
ReplyDeleteIt seems more like a knock than a pull, because of the speed that it is getting better Mandeigh. It's easier to see how he would have pulled it than knocked it, but if it was pulled I wouldn't expect hopping last night to walking nearly perfectly on it 24 hours later.
ReplyDeleteAnswers on a postcard please - how does a horse knock itself four inches above the hock on the INSIDE and not make a mark but lame itself badly??????
I hope you are coping OK with the weather Mandeigh.
C
Without shoes, if he rolled, he may have hit himself with a front foot or the other hind. You never know.
ReplyDeleteI'm sending some healing vibes because we don't want him sore for Christmas.
Good for Radar. At least there are some changes for the better.
Amazing weather here too. Warmish and sunny.