The vet called!

Wow! What relief I feel! I just got off the phone with my vet (who was not on vacation - she was at a llama conference). She said that it doesn't sound like bastard strangles, but sounds like he could have been kicked, but then I told her that he was alone, and she said it could even be some damage incurred while he was in the chutes with the BLM...then I remembered the panel incident. Now I'm pretty much convinced that this abscess that is growing in his chest is a result of damage incurred when he ran full speed into the panel back at the end of May. At the time, he seemed to not have had any injuries from the incident, but now I really, really think that's what his swollen chest is. What a relief that it's not something contagious!!!

The vet said we need to start him on oral antibiotics if it is affecting his leg, so I'll be off to get something to make my horse feel better! Now, I just hope that he doesn't start to feel so much better that all the work I've done with him just gets recessed back into some dusty little corner of his wild brain.