Injury?

This morning I was way too excited about riding. I had an awesome breakfast with my family and then we all headed out with Ugly to the gas station to check the air pressure in the tires. Everyone please take the time to do this on your tow vehicle. As it turns out the front tires were way off, one only had about 10 lbs and the other one had over 40. The rear tires were all off too. None of them had the little caps so I was able to get six of those for $1. Once we had everything balanced Matt said it handled way better and couldn't believe we had driven it as far as we did in it's condition.

Matt helped me hook up the horse trailer (I was heading out for a solo ride at the Lake) and I went to fetch Sinwaan from his pasture. He had been laying down taking his morning nap in the sun but got up and waited for me to halter him. I led him out of his paddock and he was acting and walking normally. Once he got through the gate he dropped his head to snatch some grass and I went behind him to shut the gate and as I turned back towards him and raised my eyes my mouth dropped open and I could not believe the huge bald spot above his tail. What on earth has he done now!?

I tied him to the trailer and Cindy helped me fetch some warm water in a bucket and a washcloth and I started sponging the area down. He was very sensitive to any sort of touch but eventually I did get him cleaned up. As I was working on him, Matt and Doug went with the kids to have a look around the paddock and they found a spot where it must have happened. There was a tree limb that he had really rubbed hard on, and his feet had made a big hollow in the ground at the base.

He has never exhibited any behavior like this before so we were all mystified by it. Our best guess is that he got bit by a bug and was trying to get rid of it. He was wormed about a month ago. I would think if he was itching from slight discomfort he would not have ripped all his hair off.

From rinsing the area I saw a couple small spots that started bleeding slightly but not too bad. I applied a lot of aloe vera salve for horses and once he was dry we turned him back out to pasture. He spun and galloped off. He doesn't usually do that.

Sad to say my plans for riding were cancelled yet again. I don't know what kind of shape he'll be in next weekend for the Mt Adams ride. If it's not one thing, it's another.