Bentley is Lame

And not the kind of lame where you wear vintage clothes to appear ironic.  No, the painful kind of lame.

I went in yesterday intending to have a pretty intense ride.  Walked around the outdoor ring for a bit to warm up, before picking up the trot.  There it was... bob, bob, bob of the head.  Had a couple of people take a look too, and it was as obvious as I thought.  Even tried the indoor ring to see if it was just the slippery footing that bothered him.  No luck.

Good news is we cant notice it at the walk at all, so I may still walk him around for exercise.  Our best guess is that it is either an abscess or slip in the muddy paddock.  I am leaning toward the latter since he was 100% sound on Sunday and knowing how things are in his new paddock.

He is in a new paddock because his grain needed to be increased and its easier for him to go with the other horses that come in for food.  However, Friday night Linda called me saying my horse looked pretty miserable.  The meanies of the paddock weren't letting him or Sable eat hay, and we suspect they hadn't eaten all day.  He has also come in with a lot of new kick and bite marks (nothing too big, but still clearly sore).  So I am guessing he has been chased off at some point and slipped in the mud.

So instead of a good intense ride, he got a big bucket of grain with extra beet pulp, a haircut, and a 30 minute massage.  He sure was happy after that!  I swear he gave me a kiss... there was one moment he just rested his lips against my forehead for 8-10 seconds and then gave a "smack" kissing sound and motion with the lips.  Guess he liked the special treatment.

Going for a walk tonight, wish me luck.