Consternation

What is it about entering a show or some other significant event that attracts trouble? Last weekend, Tarra's mount sustained some sort of strain or injury. Yesterday when I went down to ride Lance, I noticed his right hind pastern was a little swollen. I couldn't find any injury and there wasn't noticeable heat; I decided to go ahead and tack him up but lunge him first to make sure he wasn't lame.

Lance was his usual playful self. After I convinced him that I needed the lunge line, he proceeded to trot and canter with lots of forward and nary a hitch in his get-along. In fact, he ripped the line from my left hand (my still-frozen left shoulder couldn't handle the yank) and galloped and bucked all over the arena! After expending all that energy, he wasn't sure he had any left for me (lol), but we had a pretty good schooling session. At the end, his right hind was its usual tight, shapely self. Yay!

This morning, his right hind was swollen again. This time there was swelling around the base of his tendons just above his fetlock, as well as around his pastern. :-(

I called my vet. Thankfully, he makes house calls….