Where Does it Hurt?

Archer is lame. Although he is kind of a wussy boy and a bit of a tard sometimes this lame means he has a hurt leg, not that his 'cool factor' is in question. A few weeks ago I noticed he would stand with the left hind leg not quite touching the ground. It would appear that he was standing square but looking closely you could see that just his toes were brushing the ground, kind of like a horse resting its hind leg. Then he'd leap away and chase Leeloo or bounce around the yard and I'd think it was my imagination.

Recently though I started watching him carefully while he moved and noticed that at the gallop he was not lame at all(having too much fun to think about silly things like being hurt), short stride at the trot and was obviously lame at the walk. He also would not put weight on that leg, again with the toes just touching.

I felt up and down the leg and in between the toes very carefully and could find no obvious injuries. Although when I massage up the leg, from the stifle to the hip joint, that large muscle seems sensitive because he turns to turn look at the leg when I manipulate it.

So what I think happened was that he had a small injury and because it was not clear cut I never took measures to insist that he not make the injury worse. Perhaps running in deep snow(tobogganing?) or leaping through the trees on a walk, exacerbated the injury and now the weak muscle is a pulled or torn muscle.

Right now he is on 'bed rest' with no walks and no intense activity. I'm giving him until Thursday to show improvement and if not we will pop into the vet to see whether she can pinpoint the issue. I suspect x-rays are pointless since it's likely not a bone injury but I've been wrong before. He's entered in a show at the end of March and unless he improves considerably in the next 4 weeks he will certainly not be going. Poor Archer; cut feet, scary puppies and now a bum leg ... tough life for the little guy!