Monday he stood in his stall with a swollen left front leg. Argh!
His whole fetlock joint was swollen I was told over the phone (it was Js turn to train him yesterday), and today the same. Especially between the cannon bone and the suspensory ligament there was a fluid build-up, indicating that the fetlock joint/fetlock joint capsule was involved. Fortunately the leg was not warm and Fonti wasn't lame.
After having walked him 3 x 30 min today,the swelling have gone down some, and I'm hoping that he's just somehow hit himself or something, and that it's not a training-related injury...
Coincidentally a vet was at the stable today, and had time to take a look: Rest and 2-3 days of walking and hopefully it'll sort itself out.
The bigger problem was what to do with 600 kg horse that should be resting but was desperately bored having to stay in his room all day long!
As I was lungeing some other horses I could hear Fonti re-arrangeing his stall in an effort to entertain himself (turns out he had turned his whole straw bed upside down and pushed most of it into a corner....) , interspersed with him banging his legs on the walls, begging for attention like a spoiled child.
So, I decided I needed to find some activities for him outside his box which didn't involve running in the paddock or the indoor arena (in addition to our walks). I had planned to pull his mane for a long time, so that was first on the list. Luckily, Fonti's happy as long as he has company (any attention will do!) so he stood and dozed under the "sun" while I fixed his mane and brushed him thoroughly.
And having done the mane, the only logical thing was to do his tail as well.
A work in progressThen it was time to scrub his hooves and wash his white socks...
Good thing that the farrier is coming soon...
I'd rather be outside running thank youSo hopefully we'll be back in training in a few days (and Fonti back outside in his paddock)!
His mane and tail look beautiful. Hope he's better quickly and he can stop rearranging his stall and kicking the walls.
SvarSlettAnd what a handsome fella you've got! Hope the swelling goes down real quick, and no more trouble.
SvarSlettI wish I could do half as nice a job on Jackson's tail as you did for Fonti. Mine always looks kinda dorky and yours is beautiful!
SvarSlettThank you for all your nice comments!
SvarSlettAlthough I have to confess that I worked as a groom some years back, and got A LOT of practice pulling manes and clipping tails...
HoC: I was thinking about your "walking my big dog"-comment today as I was walking Fonti - next to the stable there's a big field where people walk their dogs. As Fonti and I came tagging along we got some weird looks from the people with the regular-size dogs!