This morning Freedom looked even worse than he had before. I could not get him to move more than a few steps and he did not want to put any weight on that foot. Time for the vet to visit.

What was interesting was how concerned Willow was about Freedom. She stayed very close by and, when I came over to him, was really in my face — almost like asking me what I was going to do about it.

I’m sure he was glad to have the company. The vet came about an hour and a half after I called and he didn’t move more than 20 feet during that time.

Freedom was not a good patient. It was obvious that his foot hurt a lot but he was not prepared to have the vet working on it. We tried putting a twitch on him but even that wasn’t enough of a distraction. He needed to be sedated and distracted (by tapping on his head).

Finally, though, she was able to find the spot and cut an exit hole. I had worried that the abscess might be too deep to drain, or that it would come out the coronary band. Freedom has had many abscesses in the decade I’ve owned him, but he’s never been this lame for so long.

Once the pressure was relieved his whole demeanor changed and when he emerged from the sedation, he was already walking more comfortably. For the next few days I’ll pack the hoof with animalintex poultice and to keep it draining (and clean).

I’ve got my fingers crossed that when I got tomorrow he will be looking a lot happier!