Love and drugs

After a weekend of love, care, drugs and attention, Henrys leg is looking almost normal. As the vet said, we got very lucky! The swelling is greatly reduced, pretty much back to normal, there is no heat and the wounds are healing well.

He is one lucky horse, but then he has always been a good healer. He seems sound on the leg, and is tolerating poking and prodding much better now especially considering that on Friday he didn’t want the vet to touch it. I was very concerned the cuts would take a very long time to heal and that we would have issues with proud flesh. However, without trying to jinx myself, I think we have avoided that and I’m thinking I will start to leave it unbandaged during the day from Tuesday. If the swelling comes back up the bandage will go right back on, but I think overnight will be all it needs.

I may start walking him under saddle towards the end of the week if he stays sound and seems comfortable. After so long off, he is going to need building back up, and extra movement will help with the swelling.

I identified why we may have some saddle fit issues this weekend as well. The left side of his back seems to be less developed than the right, possibly because I have been focusing on getting him stringer on the right. Now I am aware of the problem I can start to look at getting him more even and we will do some work on the lunge to encourage correct development. It also means I can shim the saddle accordingly, and hopefully I can get the fitter/physio out before I stop riding. If not, I’m pretty sure I can manage it and I can focus our groundwork on building his topline up more on the lunge and in hand.

Coolie also needs some more topline and strengthening work. He is looking very well for him, but he still looks weak through his quarters. I have been thinking I need to investigate some feeds to help him build muscle, especially as a senior horse. I also need to put him on a joint supplement to keep him feeling as good as possible. He has pulled up really well from the show, other than a bug bite where his saddle sits. It’s almost gone now so he will go for a nice walk out on Monday.

Both horses are shedding like mad, and our days are noticeably shorter. The grass is a beautiful vibrant green after some decent rain all last week, but while it looks lovely it means I need to change Coolies management to ensure he doesn’t get laminitis. He’s in one of his fairly bare paddocks and will be fed up by the end of the week. And hangry too. Poor fellow…