When You Hope It's an Abscess

I rode Speedy on Thursday, gave him a visual inspection on Friday, and then tacked him up on Saturday morning. On the walk up to the arena, he took a few funky steps, but I waited until we were in the arena to ask for a trot out. Yep. Lame. But of course. I just bought him a new bridle.

My med kit is fully stocked for just about any emergency.

The older (and presumably wiser?) I get, the less this stuff freaks me out. Don't misunderstand, I am not happy he's lame, but I also know that this too shall pass. Or it won't. Worrying myself sick about it won't change the outcome. 

There's no heat or swelling or sign of an injury, so it's most likely an abscess, which has happened many times before, or it's a bruise. The only thing that will heal a bruise is time, so that's an easy fix. To check for an abscess, I pulled out my brand new hoof testers and squeezed for all I was worth. I have no idea how hard you really have to squeeze, probably harder than I can do, but he didn't react. I did notice that he didn't want to land on his heal during a trot out though, so I am guessing it's a brewing abscess. 

I have tons of poultice, duct tape, and vet wrap.

Bandaging, whether it's for an abscess or a wound, is one thing that I am really good at. And the good thing with applying a poultice is that it can't hurt if there isn't an abscess, but it will help if there is. Speedy's been down this "sudden onset lameness" road so many times over the past few years that I feel pretty confident that an abscess is the issue.

And if it's not, well, then it's not. Either way he's definitely getting a few days off which is easy to do when you work full time and it's dark by 5:00.

Fingers crossed. Although for what I am not sure.