Mystery.... gone?

As I reported in the comments last evening, Junior seems to be fine. If Wednesday hadn't been so weird I would not have thought anything odd about his behavior on Thursday.

Cedar View: I'm not sure. I could not find a swollen injection site, but the have always done then in the neck as far as I'm aware. I'm not sure what the injections were. It's barn policy that they get no turnout for 24 hours after vaccinations and wormings.

in2paints: Wednesday before the ride he seemed totally normal other than being oversensitive in that spot. He's sensitive under there anyway, this was just more than usual. After the ride he looked exhaused. Sluggish. Remember Artex in Neverending story when Atreyu was pulling the reins trying to get him to come out of the swamp of saddness? Yeah, almost like that, even on the grass. Overall stiff looking. He moved slowly the whole walk back to the barn from the outdoor, even walked slowly into his stall and turned slowly, one foot at a time. Thursday he was totally himself, though.

Colic: he really didn't show any signs of colic. He's been eating, drinking, pooping, peeing, and farting as normal as I can recall. He pooped twice between 4:30pm and 8:30pm and though it was not the dryest poop I've seen from him it was not abnormal. He was not pawing, biting at himself, rolling, or getting up and down. He just looked tired on Wednesday. I know the banamine can somewhat mask colic, but since his digestive system seems to be working I don't think that's the case. I had several people observe him and no one thought there were colic symptoms, other than fatigue on Wednesday and normal on Thursday.

Laminitis: Dear God I hope not. I was reading a Practical Horseman's magazine from 1986 over the weekend and it talked about laminitis and how though we know so much more about it, the biggest thing we've learned is how little we know. KAT felt his feet for heat and said they all felt normal on Wednesday. He did not seem foot sore Thursday and moved out much freer and easier than he did Wednesday. I didn't lunge the crap out of him or anything but he didn't get stiffer as he went on, needed no urging, and even loped off without urging towards the end. This leads me to hope he's not footsore. However I will monitor carefully and do some research. We've been limiting their spring grass intake, he gets turned out almost daily, his weight is back to a good weight, and he's on a low starch, high fiber pelleted feed. None of that is a guarantee, I know.

Today he will have a normal day with walk-only lessons, a little turn-out, and I will be there around 6pm. I will ride him and see how he feels. That will be the real test, I think. I'll keep you posted.

This is from Thursday. Max was being groomed in the aisle while Junior was busy finishing the last of his hay by dunking it in his water. They are so funny together. Junior always tries to bite his nose and for some reason Max tolerates it!