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| Rory waiting while Brat drinks |
Rory came in with a swollen left hind fetlock today. His pastern was also a little swollen, and there was some heat. I curried and brushed the mud off his leg as I looked for cuts or wounds. Apart from a couple of tiny scabs I didn’t find anything. Another horse on the farm has lymphangitis right now which made me wonder if that’s Rory’s issue. I’m hoping not. I decided to start with cold hosing and set up his dinner bucket at the outdoor wash rack before taking him out. He didn’t like me moving the hose, but quickly accepted it as the food was more interesting. When I turned on the water Rory jumped forward. After I’d pushed him back he didn’t jump forward again, but he wanted too and his hind feet came up very close to his front feet. I let the water run and after a couple of minutes Rory finished chewing the mouthful of grain he had and went back for more. By the end of the hosing session he was totally unconcerned, even when I did drag the hose around.
We went back into the barn and I checked his leg again. The hot spots were still there, and specific around his fetlock. I think he probably just twisted it, or slipped a bit in the mud when trying to get out of another horse’s way. I decided to put a poultice wrap on and asked another boarder to keep him still and bearing weight on that leg while I wrapped it. Rory stood still as I put the poultice on, and the wet newspaper, then shifted his weight off the leg as I started wrapping the no-bow. With a little encouragement he stood pretty well for most of the wrap, lifting his foot once, but not pulling or kicking, and he did put it down with a little push on his chest. I thought he might wave the leg about a bit when he first took a step with the wrap in place, but he seemed indifferent and wanted to check out the pile of newspaper and poultice bucket instead.
On the way back out to the field we came past the corner of the standing stall barn and Rory leaped away when he spotted the two dog crates sitting beside the barn. Every bit of his 3/32nds arabian blood was showing as he huffed and snorted and arched his neck. I just kept asking him to come over and he did touch the closer crate and then settle down. I wish I could have gotten a picture of him in arab pose. He looked a lot like his arabian great granddaddy (also a chestnut with white).
After I put him out he hung around and licked my palm when no more carrots appeared. Brat decided he wanted a drink and walked over to me (as I was on the way). He snapped at Rory before going on to the waterer. Rory came back to me for one last carrot check before following brat. At first he stood at a polite distance, but then he sneaked a bit closer. We have automatic waterers with a bowl that only one horse can drink out of at a time. Rory’s trick is to stand very close to the drinking horse and stick his nose in the bowl when the other horse lifts it’s head and looks around. I was quite surprised that brat allowed that familiarity with nothing more than a nose gesture to move Rory out of the bowl when he wanted more water.
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