Adiva stresses me out!

Friday, July 17 I noticed some 'fight wounds' on the girls. No biggie as they do this from time to time. Of course I mentally cataloged everything, and nothing was different by Saturday morning. But by Saturday night, I noticed Adiva's right front leg was all swollen, so I bring her onto the washrack and it's hot, soft and really swollen. There was an abrasion under her knee on the outside of her cannon that I saw Friday, but now all the skin was sloughing off. And it seems to be spreading down. Like she's going to lose all the skin on the outside of her leg. Healthy pink tissue underneath, and she isn't lame and barely cares that I'm messing with it. The swelling does extend down into her fetlock, but the joint itself doesn't seem to be affected.

My first thoughts were snake or spider bite, or just serious reaction to the concussion of the kick. But I really don't know what I'm dealing with. I did cold hose it for a few minutes, but the water doesn't get as cold as I'd like. I didn't cover it with anything - I think I want it to ooze. My brain is trying to tell me what it is, but I just can't put my finger on it.

Sunday morning when I go out, it’s the same, but a bit drier. Good. Swelling seems a bit less, so I cold hose again but I don’t scrub or anything. Sunday night, I clean it well, but it’s looking so much better. Normal leg size and everything! Monday it looks the same, so I leave it alone in the morning, and clean it at night. Tuesday it looks a bit more puffy, but there’s no heat, so I don’t stress too much. But…but Tuesday night it was icky looking. When I scrubbed it, it oozed. Looking like a summer sore now. I immediately call the vet. I am not messing around with a freaking summer sore. I get an appointment for Thursday, and settle in to wait. I leave it alone Wednesday morning (mostly because I don’t have time with work) but that night I clean it out again. It’s icky. I hate icky. I decide not to medicate it and just leave it open. Thursday morning it’s all swollen and hot again. I’m so glad I have the vet coming.

THE VET VISIT: Doc comes out and I give him the story. He has his tech clean it out and when he looks at it, he doesn’t think it’s a summer sore! YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY. I couldn’t be happier. He’s thinking contact dermatitis. So, antibiotics and aluminum spray for a week, and if it’s not better in a week, he’ll come back out.

I spent the afternoon working on their new paddock. If it is something she’s rubbing on (which she has to be) I want to get her away from it. So, by Saturday they will be on the new paddock and I’ll rope off the old area so we can Round-up, pull weeds and till. I’m quite happy about it all, because they’ll have a nice clean paddock with tons of grass and we can get working on fixing that paddock and getting me an area for a round pen. I’ll try to update this more to keep everyone informed of Adiva’s leg.