When I went out to feed this morning, I noticed that Louie's left rear leg was quite swollen though he did not seem to be lame. When I looked, I saw he had a puncture wound on the front of his foot right at the coranet band. It wasn't no longer bleeding and didn't look like it had bled much. I couldn't really tell how deep the puncture was and he didn't really want me messing around with it. His whole lower leg was hot. I hosed his leg with cold water and gave him some bute. I had some paste bute in a tube. He was TOTALLY offended at me making him take that though he didn't resist it. This evening, the swelling was way down. I gave him another dose of bute but this time in the form of a molassas/bute sandwich. I mixed powered bute with molasses, spread it on half a slice of bread, folded it over and presto, medicine becomes a treat. He scoffed that down and asked for more.
What I hate most is not knowing what caused it in case it's something that I need to do something about. I looked around and didn't see anything obvious. It's possible that he was simply stepped on by Dolly mule. She has some serious borium studs on her shoes. I am going to close the run-in shelter up during the day so they can't get in there. It makes me nervous to have 3 going in and out of there. Too small a space if one of them gets a hair across their butt. If the weather is bad, I'll just keep them all separated in their own space with access to their own stalls.
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