Ouchy!

I swear -stick a needle in my eye-swear, that Axe is a horse of generally good health and fitness. However, I've spent more on vet calls for injuries & lameness issues this past year, than on probably the past 5 years combined. I tend to not write about her when things are going well, and babble on & on when things are not. The latest seems to be an abscess in her right rear hoof. I rode her on Wednesday and thought she seemed a little gimpy on that leg. When I was done, I checked her entire leg for any heat or sensitivity & found none, so I attributed it being stiff because of not riding enough over the past month, and her being in her stall a lot more due to weather on Monday & Tuesday.

I didn't ride Thursday, but went on Friday. I noticed she had her weight off that toe as I polo' ed her legs, and I had to step her forward & back several times so she'd bear weight so I could wrap that limb. I checked that hoof, and she did have a concave/convex (?) ball of mud, which I picked out and she seemed happier to put her foot down. She still seemed gimpy, though, and reluctant to canter, so I made an easy trot/walk ride out of it for her, & we did a lot of circles. Back in the barn, she kept her toe pointed, but no heat anywhere. Jodi turned her out in the paddock Saturday morning as usual, and I got a call from Kathy in the afternoon that Axe was refusing to move in the paddock, and wouldn't come in, and that she appeared to not be putting ANY weight on that leg. I ran down , and the poor thing didn't want to move. It took literally 20 minutes to walk the 50 feet from the paddock to her stall. I could make her walk 1-3 steps at a time, then she'd have to rest. She did, however, stuff her face with grass every time we stopped, it being greener on the other side and all. So I knew the pain wasn't excruciating enough to take away her willingness to eat. I ended up calling the vet. The drive -up fee for an emergency is $175. YIKES! The vet also couldn't find any heat or sensitivity in her leg, so concentrated on her hoof. Axe was sensitive with the testers, and the Dr. pulled the shoe which caused horribly excruciating pain. She did a block, like a Novocain on her foot and sure enough she walked fine on it, and even put full weight on it to rest her other legs. The block can also mask a fracture of the bone in her hoof, but the conservative diagnoses is an abscess. The farrier and the vet are scheduled for Monday anyway (more spring shots), so either or both can do a follow-up exam. I have to soak it twice a day & poultice it. I went up to take her blankets this afternoon, and she had pulled off all the wrapping, and it looked like some pus or gooey stuff was on the pad, so hopefully, it's already come to a head and burst.

It's not the care at this barn, I'm positive any of Axe's injuries would have happened at any barn. I think it's just a run of bad luck. I wish some good luck would come along, though, in the form of money so I could pay off this bad luck stuff!