No mo' drama: Harvey

First of all, let me tell you Harv is okay.

Harv has an abscess, or as we often hear people say, it's "just an abscess."  Abscesses usually involve hobbling for a few days and then resolution. If you're afraid your horse has a bad injury, it's always a relief when it's "just an abscess."  I know this.  On Friday, I panicked a little when I found him three-legged in the pasture--but he put weight on the leg as we walked to the barn, so I knew nothing was broken.  Also he was bright and wanting attention as usual.

But when I hand-walked Harv this morning in the indoor, I watched him struggle to walk and almost hyperventilated. He would step, and lurch, and rock back on his hocks. His back hunched. He'd slightly buckle his front legs like he wanted to roll. I stood with him in the indoor and wept.

Can I help it if I'm a drama queen?

I did what I almost always do when one of my horses is uncomfortable. I called the vet. In my defense -- he is old, and arthritic, and if one leg is compromised, well, the other legs are arthritic and old, and it ain't so easy to compensate with the other 26-year-old legs.

Poor Harv! His posturing was so odd and wobbly, I thought he might be foundering. He couldn't seem to find a way of walking comfortably, and he was shifting his weight around without finding a sweet spot. If you'd seen what I saw I think you would have been concerned too.

I called for the emergency vet visit -- it's always the weekend when the crisis happens, right? While waiting for the vet to arrive, I honestly wondered if I was going to have a heart attack.   Finally, the vet came. She came, she saw, she probed. There is a very clear focal point to the pain in his hoof, but a moderate amount of digging yielded nothing. So the game plan doesn't change -- we soak, wrap, and wait.

I'm a little embarrassed at my behavior today -- but only a little. With older horses, it's a slippery slope -- one chink in the machinery, and other parts start to go too. I wonder how he'll lie down and get up, I wonder if he'll fall. I worry he'll colic from the pain. I have meds on hand if I decide he's too uncomfortable -- I have the bute and SMZs.

 Bob and I went to check on him tonight -- he was turned out with a big boot and was grazing with his buds. At Bob's insistence we took him out to the tall grass for a bit where food was in easy reach. Then we went home.

That's my Saturday! I'm so glad Bob accepts how I spend my time. Harv is my boy, my numero uno.

I'll keep you all posted. Thanks for listening!