My Poor Lame Horse

I injured my horse. I have never done this to a horse before and I am really upset about it.

On Sunday, Lauren and I took our horses to Woodanilling and planned to walk/trot at about 10km per hour back to Katanning.  That is not a difficult task really.  It's approximately 22km, and TKs done 15+km at that pace or better, so this didn't seem like a stretch. He's reasonably fit and I thought it would be fun.

Well, right out he started showing signs of being foot tender. He had just had his feet trimmed the day before, so maybe they were a bit short?  But it was gravelly and once we got onto softer stuff he seemed fine.  But was it already too late?  Should I have pulled up right from the get-go?

We also encountered lots of mud, and TK slipped a couple of times, until he was refusing to cross muddy bits.  Did he strain a muscle in one of those slips?  He started walking through them with a bit of encouragement and with me insisting on a slow walk.

He was sweaty pretty heavily, but he's got a long coat and it was a surprisingly warm day, but maybe he wasn't feeling well to start with, and the strain was showing?  Maybe that little cut on his other leg that still has a slight infection needs more antibiotics?  Maybe he's still fighting that off, and maybe there's still a bit of that twig stuck in the wound? Could that have affected him?

By 10km I was wondering if I should call Mat and ask him to pick us up, but I just asked Lauren if we could go a little slower and we did, and all seemed well again for awhile.  At about the 15km mark we even cantered, and he seemed to be feeling really free, so I put aside my worries again.

Then when we hit the 20km mark, he hit the wall.  He refused to go forward. When he did, he stumbled, he was short strided. I got off and walked him home the last 3km.  He wasn't eating at first, and TK with no appetite isn't normal, so after some encouragement I did get him to eat and relax a little.

At home I undressed him, hosed him off, let him eat, but he didn't drink well then, another cause for worry, and when he dried off, I felt his legs for hot spots and swelling and really couldn't discern anything abnormal.  I didn't know what to do, since I couldn't tell the source. There was nothing in his feet, no evidence of bruising, he wasn't showing pain, but he just couldn't walk right... I just left him, and have been letting him rest.

He's been short strided on that same leg since Sunday, and it's now Wednesday. I am still not sure what to do!?  He could just be really muscle sore, and the rest is really all he needs.  Then again, I could be missing something bigger.

I've never had a horse with this kind of constitution. All my horses have been hardy little sure footed bush monsters. TKs a bit more city slicker, and clearly needs more care and attention. I don't know what that's going to mean for future endeavours, if he's going to end up being more of an arena horse or just a pleasure horse with no real endurance rides in him?  I guess time will tell.  I guess the expenses will tell more - if he needs extra vet treatments, extra feeds, supplements, extra medications, then the cost of trying to make him my endurance horse might become prohibitive.

I will call the vet on Thursday if he's still showing signs of soreness and make a decision of what to do based on that chat.