That Thing That Happens

Y'know, when you go and get your horse out of the paddock, bring them in, start grooming with picking out their feet, only to run your hand down their front leg and feel a puffy warm spot on the tendon underneath their knee?

Yup. So that happened.

It was last Saturday, my Mum (Nonna) was babysitting and I had all the time in the world to ride, but those plans were quickly derailed. I did saddle up in the hopes that he wasn't actually lame, but no go. I walked him around and he was off in the front. The swelling was on his off fore, and I did some chiropractic adjustment (nothing hardcore; just stretches and lifts to loosen things up) to make sure he wasn't out. Copper often is a bit off in his pelvis, but this time it was something in his shoulder/neck region.

He did feel better after that - I re-mounted and walked him some more, but he was still sore. Not noticeably lame, just stepping short. My guess is that he was derping around in the paddock and wrenched his leg in some sort of hole. The current field they are pasturing in is rife with rabbit holes - there's a big (old) warren in/around a gum tree in the middle of the paddock.

So it ended up being a grooming day - I clipped his jaw, taco-clipped his ears, did his withers, and tidied up his tail. Polticed his leg, sprayed his rain scald*, and applied some topical treatment to his not-quite-but-threatening-to-be mud fever. *Whew!*

This ended up taking much longer than riding, but was it all good. He's on paddock rest at the moment, and with the 38+ degree weather we are experiencing, I am just fine with that.

See ya,
bonita

*Best rain scald treatment ever:

Mix 50% water and 50% vinegar in a spray bottle. Pick off the rain scald scabs, either with your fingers, or a brush, such as a plastic curry brush. (Afterwards, DON'T use the brush anywhere else on the horse until you have dis-infected it. Rain scald is highly contagious, and the bacteria will easily transfer from surface to surface.)

Apply the water-vinegar mixture liberally, either by spraying it directly on the infected spot, or by spraying onto your hand and rubbing it on if your horse is sensitive to spray. Do this until the rain scald goes away, and if your horse is susceptible to rain scald, you can keep applying the spray treatment to kill off inactive bacteria.

Also, this treatment works well for clearing up general skin-scurf. It's not too harsh, and the natural ingredients stop it from doing too much damage. Just be careful not to go over board as this treatment can potentially dry out the skin, particularly in hot, dry weather.