As I was preparing to go to the barn, in good time, to get Biasini to the show for his Intermediare 1 test, my phone rang and I saw it was Lynsey. Immediatley I suspected that something was wrong. It was. She told me that Biasini had a puffy right front leg. They had jogged him on the driveway and he was sound and they had palpated his tendons and there was no reaction. However Lynsey wanted me to come to see it and make a decision about whether or not to scratch from the show.
When I got to the barn I looked at the leg and ran my hand up and down. I felt his hoof. No heat there. And no unusual heat in the tendons of the lower leg. But there was swelling. He has never had swelling in this leg in the 8 years I have owned him. I stood up and looked at Lynsey.”I think we should scratch him ” I said. “He’s 18 and he doesn’t need to make this worse by going out to do the Inter 1” Lynsey agreed with me and suggested getting the vet out to ultrasound the leg.
So tomorrow morning the vet is coming and we will find out why the swelling is there. The fact that Biaisini trots up sound means nothing . I have had a horse with a suspensory tendon injury that was never unsound with it.
Lynsey later told me she thought I had made the right decision. This may be nothing or it may be an injury to the soft tissue. Either way we will know tomorrow. And in the meantime he has had the leg iced and tonight he will have both front leg wrapped with what we call “standing bandages” These give support to the leg in case it is a soft tissue injury.
I am trying to be optimistic. So I will post some photos from yesterday when he and Lynsey had such a great success.
Lexi does up the girth when we arrived at the showground.
Above the three tempis. ( Flying change every third stride)
The extended walk on a longer rein.
I am hoping for good news from the vet and any positive vibes you can send to Biasini would be much appreciated.
HorseAddict 
I’d love to hear from you!