TWO months.....

[domane]

..... I was without a saddle..... But now that I have one, at last, Gracie gets her first ouchie!!! I'm half-thinking she did it deliberately!! Puffy hot fetlock on her near hind, no visible lameness but definitely sore. No wounds, MF, grazes or pulse. Shes on cold-hosing, box rest and bute for a couple of days, then review. My vet knows and agrees with my treatment. Our field is very muddy around the gateway, understandably - it IS winter - so she's probably just tweaked something.

 

[orbvalley]

Aaaarggghhh! Get well soon Gracie xx

 

[Lemme]

sods Law! good vibes on way............

 

[Trewsers]

Oh boo hiss! Healing vibes aplenty coming.

 

[Mary Poppins]

Welcome to box rest hell! It has been 14 very long days for us.

 

[Jessey]

Dammit! Healing vibes coming her way

 

[PePo]

You've got to give it to Gracie - she's got good timing!

I hope she recovers soon

 

[Kite_Rider]

You have to love their timing don't you! Hope she's soon feeling better domane, sending healing Gracie vibes her way.

 

[MrA]

Hope she's fully recovered soon!

 

[newforest]

Is it an abscess cooking? Only thinking of that as I know two with this currently.
But wet fields and they do knock into things.

Oh p.s yep that sounds planned to me. Saddle in sight and I need to limp.

 

[PePo]

How's she doing now? X

 

[domane]

Bored! The swelling is definitely on the inside of her near hind fetlock and in the absence of any clues externally I think she's caught herself in deep mud with her own hoof...or just wrenched it. The swelling and heat seem reduced today, but that could just be the bute. As she isn't visibly lame and very chirpy in herself, I took her out for a gentle in-hand walk up the lane this afternoon, on flat tarmac for 15 mins, just to stop her stiffening up.

She was clipped 3 weeks ago and whilst her body is still quite sleek as she is on the cusp of shedding anyway, her feather will always grow... so her legs are fluffy. Coupled with her chunky joints, youncould be forgiven for thinking she had ",cankles" all round Thankfully, it's just the one.

Sideways you really wouldn't notice....



But frontwards you can see the inflammation, more on the inside...



I'm taking daily pics so that I can note improvements.

 

[Jessey]

Oo that is quite a cankle! Poor lass, healing vibes on their way

 

[Prjsmk]

Anything to get out of work lol. Hope she recovers soon and is back under saddle xx

 

[Lissie]

Oh Gracie, she timed that one well. Hope she's back to normal soon, good to hear she's sound, perky and swelling going down.

 

[domane]

Much better today!

She's so bored of being in tho....very shouty and needy, she calls for me every time I go out of view. I was in a little room in her barn painting it (was feed room, going to be tack room) and every so often she'd call and I'd say "I'm in here!!" and she'd go quiet again for a while. Last bute tonight then another day in tomorrow without bute to see if she relapses. If not she can go out for a while on Sat....and I may take her for a little pootle on Sunday.

 

[domane]

Well it turned out that it WAS mud fever! Instead of drying it out I had been flippin' cold-hosing it daily because I thought it was a knock!! Bad, bad mummy!! By Thursday it was weepy and wet. I swear I hadn't felt any scabs....this seems to be a skin split, deep in the back of her pastern...which she was guarding furiously by lifting her leg and clamping her hoof to prevent investigation. At one point, in her defiance she was stood on one leg.....god help the next person who tells me she's unbalanced!!! Ohmygosh, I was inundated with a variety of treatment advice but suffice to say, I picked one and things have now dried up nicely. This morning G was a "sane companion" for the first turnout of YM's mare, who had been on box rest too with a damaged tendon. The girls went into one of the "sick" paddocks which is flat, dry and has a little bit of GRASS....I could barely get G's headcollar off! They were out for 3 hours and then G and I walk-only hacked round the block for an hour. Sound as a pound and well-behaved. She's going to stay in for a couple more days until she's really healed...but go out again with Dotty in the meantime. At least with the big freeze due, there won't be much mud!!

 

[Bodshi]

Oh my, only just caught up with this. So pleased to read the ending, even though mud fever isn't nice at least you know what you're dealing with now and Grace is allowed out again. It could have started as a knock - that's how Raf normally gets it. He gives himself a tiny cut and the mud fever bacteria zoom in on it.