And The Award Goes To...

If it’s not one thing it’s another :( Poor Katai has had more health related issues over the past couple of months than during the entire time I’ve owned her.

The face I get for taking picture and not feeding treats

First was the sore back muscle on the left side which meant a week off. Then the tender feet (I’ve now found spots on her left hind foot where she blew an abscess) for the whole month of February. Next she had the painful ovaries and reactive flail when mounting thing that mean about 4 days off and now, last night she was dripping blood, Luckily it’s not quite as bad as it sounds.

I had noticed on Wednesday that Katai had a small, hard, lump right behind her right leg in her armpit. It’s not under the girth or touched directly by the girth but when she moves it gets pushed back and runs into the girth. On Tuesday she wasn’t uncomfortable at all and it didn’t seem to affect her being ridden. Then on Thursday for drill team I glanced at it, thought it seemed the same as before, and went on with tacking up and riding. This thing was smaller than a penny and just seemed like a small scabbed over scratch or something. Horses get these types of things all the time and I usually don’t worry much about them. I had concerns about the girth but after the successful ride on Tuesday I sort of wrote it off.

For drill team I hopped on and proceeded to warm up first at the walk. Katai seemed like she was a little short in front and I wondered right away about her hooves. We’ve still been having crazy weather and I still wouldn’t be surprised if she abscesses again so I was a little worried. However, she often comes out a little stiff especially since the weather got really cold overnight so I decided to stick with it a little and see how she was doing. I did some trot work with her and she was great! Forward but listening and balancing back on her hind legs rather than running through her front. L even mentioned how good she looked but then I went back to the walk and got the same small steps so I rode over to L and asked her to diagnose what she was seeing. As I rode directly toward her she was watching Katai closely but then I turned to the left and she gasped, you’re pony is bleeding! She said "there’s a lot of blood and it’s dripping.

I freaked out and jumped off and low and behold it’s coming out of the little bump which was now more swollen. I felt like that guy who gallops Black Beauty and ruins her knees in that moment, like I deserve the bad horse owner award. I was horrified and pulled her tack off the second I got her out of the ring. She’d bloodied up her girth fairly well in that area and was fairly bloody. The wound wasn’t actively bleeding though and I’m still not exactly sure what it is. A couple of people from the barn are thinking that she may have a little piece of shavings or hay or something in there and it’s trying to come out, I would agree with the way it looks. I did a hot compress for about 5 minutes last night and Katai was leaning into it so it must have felt good. I also cleaned it up and put antibiotic ointment on it.

Ouch

Tonight I’m going back to check on her and doctor it again. L suggested that I lunge but since it’s near the girth it’s going to need some time to heal before I ride with the saddle again. Depending on how she’s doing tonight I may do some bareback rides but that could be entertaining since it’s been a LONG time since I’ve really ridden bareback and I’m not quite sure what Katai will think since I’ve only ever ridden her bareback at the walk.