Springtime Silliness

Sunday was the most gorgeous day ever, full of sunshine and blue skies and warm temperatures.  I got out to the barn, excited to ride and see where we were at.  I was going to practice doing polo wraps (seriously, where is adult pony club when you need them) and staying light in the saddle.  But when I pulled my pony out of the stall, her right hind leg was puffy and swollen.  Oh goody.

This picture was in the wash rack after cold hosing.  You can't see much of the swelling, but you can see the puncture wound.  You also can't see the strange hair sticking up running down the leg.  It was bad enough that she is on antibiotics.

L had me lunge her for ten minutes in each direction to see how she was.  She was a little bit ginger on the one foot, but worked out of it quickly so that's a good sign.  Also, since I only ever lunge when she's being crazy I didn't realize how BORING lunging is.  And how ten minutes feels like FOREVER when all you're doing is trot, trot, trotting.  I was told to keep her trot forward but not too fast and not asking for too much.  Just enough forward to make sure she's bending in her hocks.  Since it was warm, Tessa just plugged around.  Circle after agonizingly boring circle.  It's obvious she was lunged a lot in a halter, because she just went around with little encouragement.  I have no idea how people lunge for an hour.  I would die of boredom.  I kept checking the clock to see if my ten minutes was up.

Then I took Tessa in and gave her a full on bath.  The only thing I didn't clean was her face.  She was so good in the wash rack, standing like a champ and not lifting a leg at all even when I scrubbed near her wound, that I decided not to push it and wash her face.

Then we went back and I groomed another small pony's worth of hair off of her and put her away.  L put a clay pack on the wound and started her on antibiotics.  I'm hoping for an update today since we were supposed to start our jumping lessons tomorrow.  We're both hoping that it will be the kind of injury that will respond well to light work so I can at least hack her. 

No idea how she got it.  It's the time of year when they go into heat and make bad decisions in turn out.  She's not known for going crazy when she goes outside and neither is her turnout partner, so who knows what happened.  Just some springtime silliness, perhaps.