King of the Dings

I occasionally struggled with Charlie's management team at his last barn. They're a hands on group - he got great care. But... sometimes it felt a tad... alarmist.

Like that time a month into ownership when he came in three-legged lame with a fat leg and the mgmt team were pretttttty convinced he had blown his suspensory. No easy task!

"who, me?" - charlie, probably

Charlie was fine tho - totally fine. Gave him some bute and wraps and stall rest and three days later it was as if nothing had ever happened.

"such woe.... oooh is that a mare?"
(also: a couple folks have asked why i clip the cross ties so far back. it's cuz charlie has what i call a "busy head" - he likes to flip and fling it all around, while mostly keeping his feet still. so the clips give him more leeway to avoid any claustrophobic moment that could result in a break, something that's happened before)

And I would kinda get frustrated with the staff for coddling him a little bit. Like, we know he's a sensitive butterfly. We know he's gonna blow up if you look at him sideways. But he's pretty much always fine.

"why u do dis to me?"

So it's my turn to chuckle (ha puns) a little at myself now too. Bc I totally fell for the alarmingly fat leg this time. Zomg but cellulitis!!! 

"oooh feels gooood tho bro"

After Charlie's evening of cold hosing, poulticing, wrapping, and drug munching, our new vet tacked him on to an existing appointment the next day. She wasn't really sure why I wanted her to look at him since I was already treating for cellulitis, but when I said the leg was steaming after cold hosing, she got right on board.

#nappin 

Turns out tho. It ain't cellulitis. In fact, that whole "boot rub" thing was a total guise, a ruse. A distraction. Misdirection.

Sure the whole thing puffed up in anger.... and sure I noticed the swelling was somewhat localized (which was why I hoped it wasn't cellulitis).... But connect the dots, I did not.

the offending leg. much splint, very drama. or uh, something. MS Paint for emphasis lol

Surprise, it's a SPLINT! Betcha didn't see that coming!! Haha.....

Except actually, yea... this is kinda old news. He first popped that sucker back in February when a miscommunication with barn staff while away for work left him stuck in his box for way too fucking long. And he weaved himself right on into tizzy violent enough to whack his own splint bone.

freedom in a freshly mowed paddock - what's not to love?

He was basically sound throughout, and we only treated enough to get the swelling out before carrying on with life as usual.

ponies for neighbors (get it? neigh?? lol i'll be here all night folks)

This time tho, I had brought out the vet bc ain't nobody wanna fuck with cellulitis. So she gave us some of the good splint stuff. More drugs. Oral. Topical. All of 'em.

so majesty tho. i swear that long mane is super on trend too

But she also deemed him sound (not something I'm used to hearing vets say about Charlie LOL) and better off in turnout. So he got to escape the wraps and get right on back out again!

"yes hello there is a toll to cross these here roads, ma'am"

Naturally not without a little more fussing by me tho - he got lots of icing in our new(ish - bought a while ago but not yet used) Roma ice boots first.

Something he was..... kinda unhappy and almost spooky about. Right up until he started blinking heavily, licking and chewing, and then actually fell asleep. I guess it felt kinda good?

"carrots preferred, will settle for scritches"

Anyway tho, I'm basically equal parts relieved, and slightly humored with myself for falling for Charlie's patented "Zomg I'm dying!" routine. Stoic this horse is not, and I should know by now.

charlie loves dem ponies tho!

It's cool tho. I'll take a splint over some sort of massive infection any day. We'll continue the course of antibiotics I started him on anyway tho, just in case. But I'm pretty sure he's fine. The leg already looks basically back to normal - aside from some slight fill around the old-but-aggravated splint.

and a thistle. 'cuz why not

So he'll live another day! And I'm maybe slightly chastened by my eagerness to cry wolf at another one of Charlie's fat legs. Who knows, I might even pop on him for a congratulatory hack about the property this evening ;)

That makes it a happy Friday for me haha, hope it is for you too! Ever been really happy to be really wrong about your horse's health or care? Or been fooled by an oversensitive horse? Tho of course I know a few of you have the opposite problem of stoicism that never lets on about a problem until it's real bad. Oh horses, it's always something, right?