Anyway, when the vet saw her, he said she was "off" on the left front , and
wanted to evaluate her later. I could not discern any trouble, I never saw
her head bob, or any noticeable limp. About five minutes later, as we were
walking by the vet, he told me that he changed his mind and was going to
pull us. There was no swelling, no heat, in fact, I did not know where the
problem was coming from.
After about an hour, I trotted her out again in front of a friend-she
couldn't see the problem. So I went to the other vet and asked her to check
out my horse again. I trotted her again, the vet saw no problem, so she
began to palpate her leg. There appeared to be a small area on the back of
her cannon that made her goosey.
Now I know that a million things could have happened out on the trail, but
the most logical one I could think of, was that she had interfered with her
back leg. The vet agreed that it was possible that she was just bruised
rather than having some sort of tendon injury. There has never been any
swelling or heat, so I have never applied ice or really do anything. When we
got home, I watched her while she paced her pen and it does seem that she is
indeed "off" without being lame.
My questions to the pros is this-Could this have developed in to a major
problem if I had continued with the ride at a much slower gait? Should I be
watching for anything to develop now? What precautions should I take to keep
this from happening again?
Another problem I encountered at the vet check was how to get my stuff to
the vet checks. I don't have a pit crew and I did not know many people. I
asked a few people if they could carry my stuff out to the checks, but they
were limited with space and could not haul my stuff out there(I had one the
large paddock box). So when I got out to the check, sure enough, I really
needed my stuff but didn't have it. So any ideas?
Thanks,
Patti
psmoto@lascruces.com