Max is lame!

Not in a good, telling feeble jokes to make me laugh way, but in a bad, something wrong with his foot way.

I first noticed something was amiss on Saturday when the Ent took him out for their traditional weekend constitutional. It was Max's head movement that alerted me. He was bobbing his head in an unusual way, and that made me watch his feet with concern.

I went to a vet talk last year. They do them in this area from time to time to raise money for good causes. I went to one on laminitis and another on lameness. One of the tips from the lameness talk was that although lameness can be really hard to pin down, sometimes the best pointer is the horse bobbing its head, and the direction of the lean of the head can help you determine which side the lameness is on.

Anyway, there was bobbing, so I looked. Really subtle, but something wasn't right. I thought it was his near fore but wasn't sure. Said to the Ent "I think he's a bit lame" and Ent at first dismissed, but then watched with his keen eye and said "Hmmm... left front?"

Exactly!

Had a good feel, no heat, no swelling, no distress from Max. Got back to the yard and checked to see if he'd picked up a stone, but no, nothing there.

Then flagged down the YO and asked her to watch as I trotted Max back and forth. Four times. She agreed something wasn't right, but couldn't make out where it was coming from. She first thought near fore, then more likely off fore but maybe off hind? She had a feel and agreed, no swelling, no heat.

Sunday same thing. YO checked him early and no heat in his feet. I took him out for a short walk then in the school to trot him round and again thought "Nah... something is off" but it was so hard to pin down.

Today he came in with heat in his off fore. Happily farrier was on the yard today, so YO had him have a good look.

There is no sign of anything obvious, no puncture wound, and he didn't want to dig round too much. The only thing Max had a slight reaction to was a bit of pincher pressure on the toe of his off fore. More of a "get off, you're annoying me" reaction than an "Ouch! Ouchy! How dare you BE GONE!"

When I arrived at lunch time there was still heat to be felt and Max seemed a little subdued, but not obviously off colour.

We hope it's just a bruise to the sole of his foot, but there is the possibility that it could be an infection of some kind, which is more worrying.