Hoof Injury

Calvin stepped on a rusty nail type object in his pasture. I noticed it only because he was dead lame walking around his pasture while I was cleaning. I looked at his legs thinking maybe he got kicked when I saw this huge metal thing sticking out of his foot. The fact he even lodged this in his foot is really impressive.

Wtf is this metal thing even? If anyone has a guess let me know, no idea how it ended up in his pasture.

I pulled it out, which the vet later advised against should this happen again as they prefer to Xray and see how far in it went. It wasn't in far, but right in the center of his frog and did penetrate enough to draw blood.

R foot after soaking (hence odd color), puncture in central suculus of frog, blood is coming from an accidental poke from the scissors when cutting the duct-tape bandage (bad mom, sorry calvin!) 

His leg was swollen from walking toe-first for however long that metal thing was stuck in there. Also, his tendons were swollen and hot from inflammation. All this being said, he was as happy as a clam following me around, eating, and drinking normally.

The vet advised us to soak his hoof in epsom salt, bandage, and monitor for change. She said puncture wounds are dangerous and if any internal structures were hit, the chance of infection is high and he would rapidly decline. However, she suggested not to worry (haha okay), but to just keep an eye on him, keep things as clean as possible, and confine to stall.

 He got some painkillers as well to take the edge off. Funny story about the painkillers-- the bute I have is powdered citrus flavor that you sprinkle on their food or mix with feed. The vet originally advised to mix with applesauce, but he would *not* eat it. I tried everything and he could detect that damn bute in absolutely everything-- even straight molasses! Next time I'll have to use a syringe... stupid horse doesn't know a good thing when he smells it.

To Calvin's credit, he stands very well in a bucket! He could be a model for Epsom Salt at this point lol.

We kept this course for a week and thankfully he did progressively better and was able to bear weight on his leg with some minor swelling.

Day 3: Puffy R hind

It's been a little over a week and now he's back to probably 95%. I'll give him a few days off of riding, but his w/t/c is sound. I will put him back to lunging (and *maybe* light riding) on Monday, but he got the "all clear" from the vet. Even though he's clearly accident prone, it could have been far worse, so I'm really very thankful that he's okay.

Bonus picture: Calvin's foot stuck in the hay net, no joke, one day after he stepped on the nail. He's also barefoot, so he really is a special kind of snowflake. I couldn't make this up if I tried.

+1 for hobble training so when your horse gets his leg stuck he doesn't freak out, but instead just looks at you helplessly