Ouchy

Beth A Yerrick (yerrick@juno.com)
Sun, 30 Nov 1997 22:57:35 -0500

On Saturday, I went to load Miss Molly for our lesson. She had a huge
lump on her side which was spreading - no broken skin. We let her load
and ride along so we could trailer to the vet's right after my husband
had a lesson. (I tend to be on the over cautious side, but the area
hadn't finished swelling and I thought I might be overreacting!) Big
mistake - Molly spent the lesson time stomping and complaining because
she wasn't allowed to go into the arena and join Amelia even though she
had yummy hay and could see her sister.

Anyhow, you know you're in trouble when the vet walks up to your horse
and says, "Yikes!" When he touched the spot, she started shaking at her
flank, then spread through her rear end, then ended up shaking from head
to toe. Anyone who has seen this tough little Morab in action knows she
had to be in a world of hurt and worry for that to happen.

The diagnosis is a severe bruise from a kick or possibly even a cracked
rib. She is on pain meds and an anti-inflammatory. She's doing fine
unless she thinks we're going to touch that spot, and then she starts
shaking.

Have any of you faced a similar injury? When I fell off when I was first
learning and broke the first bones of my life - two ribs, I didn't find
the doctor's advice very comforting. "If it hurts, don't do it. That's
all we do for broken ribs now." Is there any better advice for horses?
Any hints? I worry because she wants to be with the rest of the herd,
but I don't think she could defend herself right now if it came to that.
We couldn't run a new line for a paddock because it was still rifle
season and it would have put her out in prime danger area. Making her
stand still in a stall didn't seem any wiser.

Obviously, we'll have the vet continue to check her and give a complete
ok before any riding or other activity.

Thanks for any advice.

Beth and Miss Molly B
yerrick@juno.com