Road to the Tevis Cup Post #23: My Christmas Present (and Happy Holidays!)

When I fed Fantazia this morning (it’s December 24th, Christmas Eve–albeit quite late, even for Pacific time), I found a typical horse-owner’s Christmas surprise: Of course my Christmas present would be an unforeseen injury.

Fantazia’s large, but superficial Christmas Eve injury

Some way, some how, she had managed to hurt herself. The good news: We aren’t planning on competing any time soon, and it’s superficial. The bad news: well, it is a fairly large wound, and will take some time to heal completely.

This is the second such Christmas present

The really weird thing is that my other horse, Beroni, managed to injure himself about five days ago. His injury is worse, if only because I can find no evidence of a wound. His left foreleg is swollen and hot above the fetlock, and he is slightly lame, but I can find no wound. It seems to be an infection. If it hasn’t disappeared by December 26th, I’ll call the vet.

My one other horse, a Morgan gelding named Beroni, has had a similarly mysterious injury. His appears to be an infected wound (but I cannot find the source).

My Christmas present will require hosing with cold water and standing wraps…

but it is not a big deal (as far as I can tell). Of course, I walked her pasture looking for the source of injury. Nothing… she’s been in it since June. I believe the most likely cause is the slab of concrete under her shelter. She generally lies down on the rubber mats near her manger. Due to nasty ground squirrels, there are gaps under the adjacent concrete slab. My best guess is that she stuck her leg under the slab and scraped he skin when she dragged it out.

Maybe. Who really knows. Horses can find a way to injure themselves in a padded stall.

In any case, I hosed the leg with cold water for twenty minutes, covered the open wounds with an herbal spray, and put a standing wrap on. I’ll check tomorrow and see how it has progressed.