I'm sure he's fine, but I wouldn't be the Overanxious Horse Owner if I didn't freak out about everything. So here I am freaking out because on Saturday when I brought him in from an hour of turn out I noticed a big black spot on his left hind cannon area, right over the suspensory ligament and the flexor tendon, or at least right about where #46 is pointing to.
Big Black Spot was between the size of a dime and a nickel. Upon further inspection Big Black Spot was a scab. Too old of a scab to have happened during the hour of turnout.... there's nothing sharp (that I know of) in his stall....Oh yeah, I had to re-mount 1/2 way through my Friday night ride because my iphone launched itself off my belt and after I remounted he tripped over the mounting block, flipping it over. He's very graceful, don't you know? I think he must of scraped himself pretty good and I feel like a terrible person for not noticing until the next day. In my defense it was very dark out and the lighting in the barn is not stellar, plus he didn't seem to ride any differently and it didn't bleed much, just in the area of the scrape. Still, I should have noticed it. He's got white legs after all!
Anyway, back to Saturday. He didn't seem lame at all. He didn't freak out when I touched it but he did try to take his leg away. He didn't seem to be in pain when I picked up all his hooves and made him put weight on the hurt one. BUT, there was a little swelling and warmth below it so I opted not to ride, just to let him rest it and I put some wound salve on it.
Well, today the swelling was worse and most of the outside of his cannon all the way down to his fetlock (#26) was warm and swollen enough that the tendons were not visible. I washed the wound with warm water and put some more salve on it. He still didn't seem to be ouchy to walk, but the worse swelling makes me nervous so KAT will look at him tonight after she gets back from the show. I gave him a little anti-inflammatory to help.
Again, he doesn't seem to be painful, but this is more swelling that I've seen on him before and I've not yet experienced swelling/heat getting worse rather than better.
On a lighter/better note, no one (knock on wood) has heard any cribbing since the feed tub was removed so hopefully that'll continue!
In my experience, that sounds like an infection. If it was really just a scrape (which it sounds like) he shouldn't be that swollen, particularly if he seems sound.
ReplyDeleteI would cold hose, scrub with betadine or something similar and then put on some anti bacterial cream like polysporin. And wrap, if a wrap will cover it. If he isn't turned out that day I would make sure he gets out for a handwalk to keep everything moving down there.
If it doesn't go down after a day or two of that, I would phone the vet. He might need something like penicillin, which is icky to give :(
Between both my accident prone horses I've had a couple infections in the last few years.
Don't worry, it's probably not serious and certainly not life threatening. Hope he heals up quickly!
I totally agree with Kristina. If you can't cold water hose, cold bandage is just as good. Good luck and keep us posted!
ReplyDeleteThanks, friends! KAT did look at it last night and said it wasn't bad. The weather is nice today, chilly, but nice so he will be turned out and will be able to move around most of the day. I'll be out to the barn in the evening to see if it's improving.
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