Fingers Crossed

This is not the post I had scheduled today, but sometimes, circumstances change. When I rode Izzy on Monday afternoon, he was sore. I chalked it up to body soreness from Sunday's challenging ride. Instead of working, we spent nearly an hour just walking. He wasn't outright lame, but he wasn't right either.

When I showed up at the ranch yesterday, he was sore in the front. My first thought was abscess. It has only rained twice all winter. The first time was quick and didn't even make mud. Last week's rain though left everything soaked, so an abscess seems like the obvious culprit.

​I grabbed my hoof testers and went to work. I was only able to get the slightest response on the right front but nothing on the left. When asked to pivot on his front feet, Izzy could pivot on the left, but was uncomfortable when asked to pivot on the right. In a trot out, the head bob was seen on the left. Even with all of this, it seemed as though he were sore on both front feet. This would not be good.

Armed and ready for battle.

There was no filling on the left leg and only a faint "softness" on the right, so subtle that your average Joe wouldn't have even caught it. With the ranch owner offering her feedback, I gave the hoof tester a second try. Again, I could get a slight reaction on the right and nothing on the left. When I used the hoof knife, I was immediately able to find what looked like a track line.

During the trot out, Izzy got a little "wild child" and jerked the lead rope from me and cantered gaily off to visit his friends. He was clearly not near death's doorstep. He was willing to carry weight on both feet, but it did seem as though he preferred to keep the right foot in front with the heel ever so slightly off the ground.

Is it an abscess? I don't know, but it's more than likely. I left him unwrapped for the night. I am "hoping" he'll be a little more lame this afternoon so that I can make a better judgement call. If he is obviously more sore on that foot, I'll poke around with the hoof knife to see if I can find an abscess so that it can drain. Either way, I'll poultice for two days, and then have another look. Fingers crossed that it is an abscess.

Better would be to say, fingers crossed that it's gone.