War wounds.
What I thought was a little incident of mare mayhem occurred the night after our Wednesday lesson. When I arrived at the barn on Thursday I discovered a scrape down Bestie's back from teeth, a swollen raw spot on her belly, and a scrape on her hock - all on her right side. It was perplexing because the girls had all been getting along so well. Two mares who had been a bit confrontational had left, and the group that remained seemed pretty chill. The mystery was solved later that day. It seemed that someone had mistakenly turned out one of the geldings in the field and apparently that had upset the dynamics.
The tooth scrape is in the area that would be covered (ie rubbed) by her right side saddle pad and saddle skirt, so I haven't ridden since the lesson. Yesterday, day 4, when I went to the barn, the area no longer looked raw and it seems to be healing up, as do the belly and hock spots, although that hock and the area around the belly spot are still a bit swollen. After cleaning all the areas and treating with 3-way ointment for a few days, I'm now putting vitamin E on them and continuing to dab the swollen areas with Sore No More liniment, as well as cold hosing her hock.
So with all of that, plus application of venice turpentine to assist with her ouchy soles (at the suggestion of the farrier), she gets quite the daily treatment. While I fuss around her, soaking and swabbing and doing whatever else is needed, she snoozes on the cross ties in the wash stall. With the box fan that's right overhead plugged in, it's quite the comfy spot to be on a hot summer day. :)
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