For the love pete. Or Gus. Or whatever

Ugh.  Horses.  Just when you let yourself think that all the money that you spend and all the things that you do are justified and perfect decisions. 

They end up having an abscess.

Yup.

Gus, who oh-so-charmingly didn't flinch at the hoof testers when he first pulled up lame(well, lamer) is currently in the process of blowing out a huge abscess that has most likely been the culprit all along. 

Farrier found the edge of it yesterday during a trim, and upon exploring it's hovering right between his bars and heel, with a very ouchy region a little closer to his toe. 

So, aside from the three (3! tres!) vet visits to initially diagnose, then ultrasound, THEN follow up, it turns out nothing has gotten better partially because he's been all hopped up on anti-inflammatory drugs the entire time.

cue loud, angsty wail as I beat my head against my desk.

So Gus got his hoof packed and wrapped and since we were part way through his trim, he's currently bare upfront and waiting for the squishy gross pocket of goo to resolve itself before we tack shoes back on. 

Hopefully he's feeling better by the end of the week and we can proceed with life as normal. 

Twit. 

Here's a pic of the bit that's exposed now..

please forgive the HORRID feet.  They are so much better than they used to be, but I still cringe a bit when I see them

Black bit marks part of the void that we can reach without digging around

Horses.  Sigh.