Cody Wants to Kill Me

Well Axel is starting to thin down a bit, since his swelling has gone away on his belly and sheath and he's off the round bale he's looking pretty good. His knee is a bit sore still. The mud fever doesn't look any worse but I didn't work on it last night. The swelling on his face apparently didn't change after being in a stall all night but when I saw him yesterday afternoon he looked good and it was almost gone. So hopefully whatever thing he ate was a one time deal and it won't come back. J is going to keep an eye on him.

Cody had been so calm the last time I lead him down the road I thought I'd try riding him this time and see if he was doing any better. We actually got quite a ways (down to the neighbor's driveway) before he started stopping and backing up. I urged him forward and he had a mini hissy fit so I got off and made him circle in the field and stand and look at me. I walked him a ways further to the drainage ditch before I got back on and pressed forward. He was a little more speedy forward but slowed down when I asked until we got to the next drive way area. My plan was to stop and wait for a truck to pass and then turn around and go home since he was behaving at that point. As soon as that truck drove by Cody whipped around and tried to bolt for home. I had the right rein about a foot from the bit and had his head pulled around but he just kept going and tried to back out of the ditch right into the path of the truck. I managed to 1. stay on 2. keep him in the ditch and not get run over. He finally stopped but was clearly freaking out. I chose to ride back to the barn and work him in the arena (safer). He tried to trot the whole way back on the road and wouldn't calm down until we were midway past the pasture.

So we trotted in circles for quite some time. And actually he was really starting to get on the outside rein circling left. He kept going around and didn't start to slow down until he was tired so we kept going. We trotted in both directions, cantered several consecutive circles to the right, cantered a couple messy circles to the left and then trotted some more. He actually wasn't huffing and puffing or anything but I think we went long enough to wear off some of the adrenaline so it was back out to the road ditch.

This time we didn't go as far but that wasn't the point. I just wanted a forward non-freaked out walk, which he did. But when I turned him around he tried to bolt again (not as bad as before). So we turned back way from the barn and kept going. Third time was the charm, I asked him to turn around and he calmly turned and continued to walk. I really hope we can get over this hump soon.

You Have Got to Be Kidding Me ... Again

Monday I go out to the barn after doing some yard work and bring Axel in to work on his scabs. I get him hooked up in the cross ties and I notice his face is swollen. He has a big welt on his left check. First I thought it was from falling over and maybe hitting the stall door but that was the other side. Then I notice his throat latch is swollen and under his chin. Seriously? It was like 7pm and I didn't particularly want to pay for another vet visit. I took his temperature and he didn't have a fever. His eyes were clear, no lumps anywhere else, no snot, attitude was fine, he had been grazing and happy. J&J didn't have any ideas so I called the vet and left him a message. He called back just a few minutes later and couldn't give me a snap diagnosis from the symptoms but thought he'd be fine if we just watched him a few days. One idea was swollen salivary glands. Upon further investigation I found something called "grass glands" which is swollen salivary glands due to possibly an allergic reaction.

So last night I went back out to check on him and go back to work on his scabs which I neglected then since we got sidetracked with the swollen face. His swelling is mostly still there, kind of spread out a bit, maybe a little lower, hard to tell. I poked at him to make sure it wasn't tender and he seemed just fine. I set to work on grooming and picking scabs. I did end up getting a lot of scabs off and scrubbing him with the chlorhexidine. There are still some scabs left but I'm hoping to get them all off gradually.

J said she'd leave Axel in a stall overnight to see what happens. Apparently if the swelling is "grass glands" then it should get better overnight when he's not grazing and then get worse after a day on the grass. It won't really change anything I don't think but we'll know we're probably dealing with an allergy. I'm hoping it'll go away as he gets used to the grass or whatever it is he's eating goes away. From what I can find on the internet is another sort of common ailment that you just put up with. It doesn't seem to bother him so far but I haven't tried working him or riding him yet.

I had been neglecting Cody so I groomed him and then took him for a walk down the road. He was even more calm than the time prior so I think tonight maybe I'll try and ride down the road and see how he does. And I need to get Axel lunging again but at least he's moving around more in the pasture. His knee is a bit sore lately which I assume is from increased movement.