Ouch!

Well, my boy Ace is officially [slightly] lame for the very first time since I bought him three months ago.

I was in the midst of Thanksgiving preparations last night and I just had to sneak out to see Ace for 15 minutes since I hadn’t had much time for him over the last week with being out of town with a family emergency and all. I tossed a halter on and took him into the arena just to play for a few minutes. I noticed right away that he wasn’t moving normally on his back left leg, and was propping it up take the weight off more often than not. It wasn’t anything that obvious, but I was glad to discover that I do know Ace well enough to notice immediately when he’s not quite right. Moving to the left there was just a little hitch in his step. To the right, it was very obvious that he was short stepping.

He was in his normal good mood though, angling constantly for the treats he knew were in my pocket. He didn’t have any swelling, heat, bumps, scrapes, or other visible problems. I’m guessing he just tweaked something moving around his slippery turnout, since we had some rain yesterday that temporarily thawed the ground a little bit.

We kept him stalled overnight (which we were anyways since he doesn’t have the sense to get out of the cold snow depsite the fact that he’s shivering when we bring him in to eat). He got about four hours loose in the arena this morning. Dave watched him move for me and thinks he’s looking a little bit better. At any rate, he’s definitely not worse.

I’m heading to Oglebay, WV for the next 24 hours for Thanksgiving. It’s a two-hour drive and we need to get there before the sun goes down because it is impossible to find the right cabin in the dark. It’s slowing down at work, so I’m hoping I can sneak out a few minutes early to go check on my boy personally before I head out of town.

Makes me glad though, that our Thanksgiving plans got cut short last minute, because I can be home to keep an eye on him for the rest of the holiday weekend.

All in all, I’m thankful to have a great horse who I love and who loves me. I’m thankful that it was a full three months before he showed the slightest signs of discomfort. And I’m thankful that I’ve learned him well enough to notice it right away. And most importantly, I’m thankful for everything that Ace and I are learning  together. I’m incredibly grateful, too, to Dave and Tracie for making it possible for me to afford to keep a horse. Wouldn’t have and couldn’t do it without them! Oh, and my mom who taught me almost everything I know and goes to the tack shop at home for me and buys me horsey stuff for Christmas and listens to me talk for hours on end about my horse–and likes it.

That’s all my horsey-related thanks. What are yours?