Last Thursday, I was helping out with the grooming and exercising of Tess'* horse while she was off in the hinterlands of the eastern seaboard. As I was lifting the horse's left rear hoof, the horse wasn't wanting to play nice and tried to shake me off. As I was lowering the hoof, it slipped out of my hand and accidentally tapped the side of my right calf. I barely felt it, and I know the horse never noticed.

Anyway...we go through some exercising and stuff before heading off to get some preventative meds for his hoof (for a previously noticed pre-condition). At the store, I notice that I was gaining a fairly impressive goose-egg from where the hoof connected. It took some time, but it eventually got all nice and contusion-y, and the goose-egg got to be about fist-sized at its largest. It's still a bit sore, but well on the mend.

It was with the Saturday pic that the goose-egg (basically the purple area) was about the size of an adult male fist. It just doesn't photograph that way.

No...I haven't seen a doctor. I've been relying on my background in physical training to allow me to monitor the situation. If any serious warning signs presented themselves, you can bet that I'd be over at urgent care....uh, urgently. Besides, other than telling me to rest it, ice it, tape it, and elevate it, there wouldn't be much that would have been done, anyway.

Gosh, horses are fun!

(In case you are wondering, I saw the horse the same Saturday as the above pic. What's a little bruising between friends, eh?)