Tag. You're out.

And the lameness monster hath tagged Mr. Moon down and out for the count.

And now, for the story of the destruction...

Of course, I was really, really looking forward to our Wednesday ride. The jumps were still up, H might be able to join me over them once and I was still on cloud nine after hearing the girls say my little pony wasn't against jumping.

It therefore, should be no surprise that as I pulled into the yard and H was standing beside the wash rack with my horse that I would bound out of my car, huge smile on my face. I was THRILLED to see her and ecstatic about our chance to ride.

 What we SHOULD have been jumping bareback last night...

I continued to bound across the gravel towards them, noting offhandedly that her horse was wandering the ring and that she was hosing Moon's legs. I greeted her cheerfully, my mind assuring me that she must not like dirty legs on horses or something. I mean, why else would one hose a horse's leg?

...perhaps, because of THIS:

A hot, swollen, ugly mess.

Yes, as H gently broke the news of Moon's injury to me, that giant smile faded away and I realized that my hamster must run a little slow. Or be dead. Because it became GLARINGLY obvious that Moon was injured and she was treating him. Not prepping for some jumping.

Oye.

My following reaction stunned me a little. I expected myself to panic and go into hysterics. I mean, it was an ugly wound. But I also knew that if there was something more that could be done or that was urgent, H would have addressed it already. So instead, this was simply, what it was. Bring on the cold hosing.

Our best guess is that he kicked out and scraped it. Along a fence, the boards in the run-in? Who knows. We'll probably never know, barring for finding a chunk of skin flapping in the summer breeze. Regardless, the wound needed no sutures, it was already drying (clearly not fresh...it must have happened over night perhaps? Early in the morning? Who knows with horses). So I slathered on the Dermagel, put copious amounts of SWAT around it and sent him back out into the field.

Eww. 

The leg, as you can see, is very puffy. Swollen and hot. And stiff. He walks normally, but is head bobbing at a trot. No surprise there.

PUFFY. : (

This morning I went out at the crack of dawn, fed the ponies and then cold hosed Mr. Moon again. Slathered on more DermaGel, SWAT and then applied SoreNoMore liniment and poultice on the leg. It looks like a children's horrible finger painting job. But hopefully, it does the trick.

Artistic Leg Painting - DermaGel, SWAT, Sore No More Liniment

I suspect, this will take awhile to heal and go down. I'm hoping and hopeful that he'll recover fully, as it appears to be superficial and not deep into any tissues. Hopefully the swelling goes down, we avoid infection and in a couple weeks, he's back to normal.

Unfortunately, there is time we'll have to wait out. Swelling takes time. Will we still make the August Gymkhana? Not likely on Mr. Moon. And my weightloss plans, my trail rides with E, jumping with H...all on hold. The only thing that keeps me from bawling like an infant is that we've already given up on show season.

Then again, a big part of me, having now owned my own horse for over a year, recognizes lameness as an inevitable part of horse ownership. And you can guarantee that your horse WILL injure itself. It's just a matter of when and how close to a show. : P So unless it's requiring veterinary attention or is debilitating, thank your lucky stars that you'll both bounce back from it, and carry on. With horses, it ALWAYS could've been a whole hell of a lot worse.

It could be a lot worse...at least that's what I keep telling myself.