Well, we had our first vet call. Paj came out of his stall lame on Tuesday morning. My initial thought was an abscess, because he has a long history of them. His farrier happened to stopped by, tested his hooves, and it wasn't an abscess. By evening, he had swelling along his tendon, and I thought maybe he had torn his tendon.
Paj's swollen leg
Dr. Gary and Ray came to the rescue, and it didn't take Dr. Gary any time to find what I had missed. Paj had a wound near the bulb of his heel, and the swelling was infection making its way up his leg. Dr. Gary bandaged his hoof, gave him antibiotics, and put him on 5 days of SMZs. We are on day 3. I've changed his bandage, and his wound is looking very good.
Where the problem really is
Here's the kicker - we have to keep it dry, and we're expecting snow. A whole lot of snow.