Warming weather + ice and mud = injured gelding

Spring is almost here! It's been in the sixties for most of the week, and while the frost hasn't completely let go, the ice is mostly gone and has been replaced with slick greasy mud. While this transition was going on, the horses got rather spunky, and needless to say, there's a rather unhappy gelding resting his leg in the barn.

I got home on Saturday after spending the day at a hop grower's informational seminar. I fed hay and water, then went to let everyone in for supper. The first one in is Never, and he's favoring his right front leg. I check him out, looking for heat and swelling, and find that it's mostly in his upper foreleg and shoulder. He also has mud on his face, neck and a bit on his side. My best guess is that he took a tight turn while goofing off and fell, bruising his leg and shoulder. I've had him on stall rest ever since, and he's not very happy about it.

I went to the vet yesterday to pick up Dormosedan for Rho (so we can trim his feet without getting anyone getting hurt) and picked up something stronger than aspirin for Never. The vet agreed that it was probably a bone bruise and that I was treating it the best way possible. Even if it was a hairline fracture, there's not a lot to do for it but lots of stall rest and pain killers. The powdered Bute didn't cost that much, about $35 for about 50 doses, but the Dormosedan was a lot more than I remember: $67 for one 1.5 cc dose!

Never's swelling seems to be going down a little, though he's still favoring the leg somewhat. Hopefully, he'll be ready to got out again soon, so he can roll in the mud with the rest of the herd. It'll be nice when the pasture is divided, though, to make it easier to separate the rowdy ones from the ones that need more rest.