Two Steps Forward, Ten Steps Back

Followed by another eight steps forward. On Sunday morning I woke up to the sight of Raven dragging her hind right leg past our bedroom window. The whole thing was puffed up from hock to fetlock, but without any heat or sign of trauma. If not for the swelling I would have assumed it was bad abscess, but it looked just like the pictures of a bowed hind tendon in my encyclopedia of equine veterinary medicine. I was heart broken...after such a long, slow recovery from that puncture wound (to the same hock) it came as big a blow.

With hosing and bute the swelling went down considerably over the course of the day, and Raven spent most of it lying flat out. She looked better on Monday morning, but continued to limp dramatically. By Tuesday night only the fetlock was puffy, the limp was almost gone. This morning she is totally back to normal. There is no evidence of an abscess so I have no clue what happened here. My best working theory is that the hock may be extra sensitive now and she whacked on something. Kerstin is coming this afternoon to do teeth and x-rays on Tonka, but I fear that she will be as stumped as we are.