Rajmani is lame. He got a kick on his forearm. Not bad, but the skin is broken, there is a little blood and you can see the outline of a hoof. The joy of integrating a new horse into a herd of mares! I suppose it was a question of time and I should be thankful that the kick fell on the muscle area of the forearm and not the knee or the canon bone which might have injured him far more seriously. There is another hoof print on his chest.
Who was the culprit? I am not a hundred procreant certain but I have the strong suspicion that it was Ashtami, my skewbald mare.
Usually, Ashtami is not a very dominant mare, but her daughter Ambika is in heat and keeps on following Rajmani. She sticks to him like a tick and Ashtami does not like it at all. She has turned into a lioness feeling extremely protective about her daughter.
So, she throws herself in between them, pins back her ears and tries to keep Ambika away from Rajmani. It is quite funny seeing the three of them together. Eventually, Ashtami manages to steer her daughter into another direction and she forgets about Rajmani, but they can play this game for quite some time. Rajmani is not really sure what Ambika want from him. She keeps on sticking her bum in his face until he bites her, if her mom is not around to keep him at a distance. It is not that he is aggressive with her, rather the opposite. He usually tries to ignore her until she gets too persistent.
I always find it fascinating to watch horses interact with each other. I could spend hours and hours just sitting with them and observe their behaviour in the group. You will learn a lot about the character of each horse. There are the bossy ones, the sassy ones, the shy ones. And with mares it can change totally when they come on heat. A shy mare can get sassy and some mares suddenly discover that they like a particular horse, even though normally they cannot stand him or her.
Our horses have a lot of open space. They can usually avoid the ones they do not like or get along with and those which need a lot of personal space, do not feel crowded or stressed. Space is usually the key for keeping a lot of horses together.
Like this we have integrated a lot of different horses over the years including some which had never before been together with so many horses, totally free. Of course, we had our share of minor injuries, but we never had any serious ones which were a result of the integration of a new horse.
As Rajmani is a gelding and we have mostly mares, he is certainly special and our mares are fascinated by him. They all came on heat one after the other and Rajmani has received a lot of attention from almost everyone since his arrival almost a month before. Kirti does not like him and ignores him whenever he comes near, but then she has always been one of the last of our horses to accept a newcomer. She is extremely protective and does not like any new horse for at least a year or even longer. And Ashtami is clearly not amused by Rajmani either but that is only because of her being a mom and being pregnant. Once Ambika stops showering him with her attention, she will go back to ignoring him.
So now he is lame and I need to cancel my plans. I wanted to take him for another ride, but that is out of question now.
I take him up with me and examine the wound. It is only superficial, but he is definitely lame and I am afraid the leg might swell up. So here is my opportunity to see how he likes the water hose.
I tie him and bring the hose. When it starts spitting water, Rajmani is not amused and goes as far away as the rope allows him. I talk to him gently and let him sniff the hose. His nose comes forward and he puts it into the water, then quickly withdraws. Once again, he dips his nose and drinks a bit from the water coming out of the hose. He is smart, usually when I show him something once and give him time to accept it, he is not afraid. Patience is always rewarded. I had horses which needed months to get used to the water hose because some previous owner had probably scared them with it or not given them the time to learn that the hose is not dangerous and will not bite them.
Rajmani was good after a few minutes. I then start hosing his hooves and slowly progress towards his forearm. He fidgets a bit but then realizes that the cool water actually feels good. He visibly relaxes and puts himself into a slightly more comfortable position to enjoy the wellness program.
I cool the leg with water for about 15 minutes, then rub it down and put some ointment on the cut. He is still limping when I take him into his paddock and I know that he will need a few days rest to heal.
Update 28.03.
Rajmani is still limping and his forearm is a bit swollen, even though less that I feared. I cool the leg with water again in the morning and later in the afternoon but let him go out in the fields with the mares as usual, hoping he will be smart enough to avoid any confrontation. The Holi festival is coming up and as I will be busy with the festivities, he will have the week-end and Monday off and I hope by Tuesday he will be fine again.