Hematoma

Well, I thought I'd be writing a different post today, but instead I'm writing about this:

Sweat scraper for scale

Sometime between Sunday evening and Monday evening, Connor developed a huge hematoma in the girth area behind his left elbow.  His very first injury of any kind, three days before the biggest show we've ever done.  Of course.

I went around and around with Mary trying to figure out what it could be.  No bug bite, no heat, did not palpate sore, no changes in tack or girth, my tack is cleaned or wiped down after every ride.  He's sound as could be, as evidenced by this:

A post shared by Jenifer Slabaugh (@j_alean) on Jul 3, 2017 at 4:04pm PDT

We finally decided it's likely a pressure sore from laying down, which we know he does often.  The stalls aren't bedded very deeply at the new barn, and the side of his left hoof almost perfectly lines up with the middle of the lump.

His hoof had slipped out of my hand here, but you can see what I mean.

So I cold hosed it, ran him around in the outdoor a bit, cold hosed it again, cleaned his stall and added a ton of sawdust (also leaving a note explaining and offering to pay for additional sawdust even though I know they won't let me pay extra, because I'm not going to be that boarder).  Hopefully it goes down quickly.  I would be devastated if this kept us from going to Pony Cup.

(The one awesome thing about this: I live close enough to cold hose him myself now!  It's the little things.)