I went back out to the farm last evening to check up on the Fuzz. He met me at the gate of his paddock, all bright-eyed and "cookies?". I asked him to trot around the paddock at liberty, but that was a failure. At first he didn't see the point, and when I finally got him moving out, he ran through a sticky patch of mud and tripped. He caught himself and carried on, but I want to see him trot in a constant circle. I had taken his Parelli halter and lead rope home to wash, so I was stuck with his nylon halter and lead. I used to have a nicer one, but it broke and the barn owners have been kind enough to use an old one to shuffle him back and forth between paddock and pasture. But it looks so ugly on him.
Ew. But he trotted sound in the indoor with no heat in his legs. I didn't know how much was him and how much was the bute he'd gotten at dinner, but I knew it probably wasn't anything serious. 2g of bute can't cover up too many serious issues. I put some liniment on them and put him back in his paddock.
Today, he looked good enough to not need any bute and could go out in the pasture. No heat, but I did find a small amount of swelling between the Superficial Digital Flexor Tendon and the Deep Digital Flexor Tendon. It wasn't big and he didn't mind me poking and pinching it. I cold-hosed it for 10 minutes and discovered he developed a small splint on his right front cannon bone. ARGH! Royal, why you do this to me? I pressed on it with all my might and he didn't flinch, so that's a good sign. He had a splint a few years ago, which also didn't pain him, and the vet told me that I do do stuff with him. I just had to keep him booted and make sure he wasn't painful.
Nevertheless, he's getting another week off, although he probably won't be a fan of all the cold-hosing and liniment I will do. He'll just have to get used to it.
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