Ouchie

Eli tends to swell up even with what appear to be minor scrapes (so much so that I have had him ultrasounded twice because it looked like not just a scrape). He came out of his stall on Tuesday evening with a scrape on his right hind, but no swelling and it looked superficial. So I rode and he felt fine.

Wednesday evening, the scrape looked slightly angrier and did have some swelling around it, along with maybe a little bit of heat (hard to tell when it’s hot outside). I decided to skip riding and ice it after cleaning it up, and I put some antimicrobial salve on it under a layer of Corona after icing. I had only used Corona the night before but I guess it didn’t quite help enough. I’ll see how his right hind looks tonight, and maybe go ahead and ride again if it’s not storming outside.

Abundance of caution? Maybe. But I have learned over the years that’s the way to go with horses. A seemingly minor wound can blow up into months of stall rest in these magnificent but confoundedly fragile creatures.