Poor Pie - he had a swelling the size of a cantelope on the right side of his face, from below his eye, extending back to his ear and all down the side of his jaw. It didn't seem to be an injury - there was no wound, and he was chewing just fine. It seems that he got stung, perhaps more than one time. I brought him back to the barn, gave him a gram of bute and iced it. Pie was very cooperative - he would take a bite of hay from his hay bag, then stand chewing it while I held the ice to his face. We did three separate icing sessions and the swelling already was looking a bit better.
Red's reaction to all this was interesting. As I led Pie in, Red came galloping up behind us. He waited at the top of the hill, calling to Pie several times, until I put Pie in his paddock, then went back to the herd. About an hour later, Red came up to the gate - the rest of the herd was still out in the far pastures - and once again took a good look at Pie to be sure he was doing OK. Red must have know that Pie had been hurt and wanted to be sure I was taking good care of him.
My vet was at the barn that afternoon to see some other horses and was able to take a look at Pie. She said it was likely to be a sting, although it could also be an impact injury. She gave him an injection of antihistimine, and he got some more bute this evening and will get one more gram tomorrow morning. I'll continue icing as often as I can. If it's a sting, as we believe, the swelling should be down even more tomorrow.
Red supervised the vet visit by peering at Pie between the slats between the stalls and nickering to him - it was very sweet.
Poor Pie - he was a good sport and very sweet about all of this. Here's his face this afternoon - much reduced from the morning but still pretty swollen (the left side of the picture - below and behind his right eye):
Poor Pie - I hope he feels better soon!
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