oh how fun, another new injury!

Rehab was going well and I rode Lucy a few times last week. Then on Monday I discovered her RF knee very swollen (soft and spongy) and warm. I cold hosed her for-ehhv-er and hand walked her for about 20 minutes and the swelling went down significantly, then she went on the lunge line and had a little trot so I could see if she was lame. I figured if it was a fracture, bone chip, or impaled object, she'd probably protest to me poking it and messing with the leg in general, not to mention look super lame. I know, I am sooo super high tech. She didn't flinch when I palpated the knee and she was fine on the lunge line. She was totally sound so I opted not have an emotional breakdown or call the vet sobbing (again), and instead I did yet another Furazone sweat with wraps and went home to drown my sorrows in hot chocolate.

My standing wraps are really earning their keep lately!

On Tuesday the knee looked marginally better but was still a little warm and swollen. She got turned out all day with no wraps, and by Tuesday night the swelling had gone down even more. All of my wraps were in the wash so I left her unwrapped Tuesday, but she got buted and hand walked. Yesterday the knee looked pretty much the same even though she hadn't been wrapped, and then last night I wrapped her with a poultice and she looked even better this morning. Also, now that a lot of the swelling has gone down, I can feel a little scab right on the front of her knee so I am just hoping she nicked herself outside and being a typical fragile flower TB, her body's reaction was "ALERT! ALERT!! HORRIBLE INJURY DETECTED!"

Yawn.

Of course if the knee continues to stay swollen I will probably have to get the vet out in case it is actually a little puncture so that we can get that cleared up and probably put her back on SMZ's. I may catch some heat for letting this go without getting the vet out immediately, but honestly at this point, this stuff is not something I'm going to freak out over after she tried to commit suicide a few weeks ago.

She also got new shoes on Tuesday, or at least we attempted to put new shoes on her. The front feet went just fine, and my farrier was thrilled that a horse who couldn't even keep a shoe on her foot for three weeks over the summer kept all four shoes on for over ten weeks. I guess foot supplements really do work! That and Farrier's Fix hoof oil, and Durasole, and a very good farrier.

Anyway, the fronts went fine but she could not hold that left hind leg with the nasty stifle wound up long enough to get a shoe on that foot, so he pulled a stealth ninja move and pulled the hind shoes off in practically .2 seconds. He didn't even file the feet down, just left them as is. She had a good amount of growth over the last ten weeks so that even barefoot, she shouldn't have a problem. Also, unlike when we went barefoot last time behind, she won't be yahoo-ing through the woods or jumping. All we are doing right now (besides feeling sorry for ourselves) is some walk/trot in the indoor. My farrier said we could leave the hind shoes on for another six weeks but I didn't want to have to deal with her throwing the shoes and then needing to get him back out to clean that mess up. I'd rather just take the shoe off.

I suspected that left hind would be a major issue for us because she has a very hard time even picking it up for me to clean that hoof out. It's not an injury internally; it's the scab over the stifle that must be very painful when it stretches. The poor horse tried picking it up for the farrier but she immediately looked totally stressed out and her whole body was shaking, so we did not press the issue. :( Poor baby.

Speaking of the stifle injury, the super ugly scab came off naturally a couple days ago, and now there is a much better looking scab forming quite normally in its place. The wound has closed up about 50%. I am very pleased with her healing!

Her front right tendon looks totally normal and other than the swollen knee, we're doing quite well.