And...she's sound!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We did. It was uneventful (meaning my grandmother behaved herself), and the food was great. Mom and I spent 3 days cooking and baking, so everything on the table was homemade.

My boyfriend and I have spent the last couple of days getting his truck fixed up, so it runs better and is safer to drive (so he can come down here more often, and I don't have to drive up there, yay!). Pretty much all that's left is to get him some new tires. So, he's in town for one more day. I know my mom is getting sick of having a "house guest," but I am enjoying having the extra time with him.

I dragged him up to see Promise yesterday to see how she was doing, and took some video. I feel really confident in saying she was feeling great! Here's a video from when we first started on the lunge. You can see she's a little stiff starting out, but other than that, she looks really good. I wouldn't say she's 100%, but she IS sound enough to ride.

I apologize for these being a little "Blair Witch" :)

And to the right...she looks better here. I think, too, that the circles don't help. Duh. She picked up the right lead the first time I asked, cross-cantered behind, but switched for me in two strides. Yes! And then she wouldn't stop, lol. This is a pony that is feeling GOOOOD!

Then, I let her loose to see what she'd do.

I think some of what is going on here is lack of muscle tone and being strung out behind, as she rushed into a canter.

Playful...

Anyway, she was feeling great, and was downright cheerful and really full of herself. The barn owner commented on the change in personality. She hasn't been unpleasant, in fact, post-ulcer, she's been generally a very happy pony. But seeing her now, she wasn't *this* happy.

And, I wasn't either! I think she is sound enough to ride, as long as we take it slow, so I'll be getting my butt back on her sometime this week. It's going to be great, even if all we do it walk and walk and walk and walk. I have really missed riding!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am thankful for many things today, and every day... 

I have a wonderful, albeit somewhat dysfunctional, family. 

I am thankful to have at least one more Thanksgiving with my grandmother. 

I love, and am loved in return, an amazing man. As I like to say, he's not perfect, but he's perfect for me.

My beautiful horse is still very happy, and possibly sound again, this year. I don't know what my life would be like if she hadn't been a part of it all these years.

I am thankful to have had a dog like Harley in my life for 12 years. (Happy belated birthday, Harley puppy!) And, of course, to have a little mush like Kris to take up that empty space in my heart after losing her.

And, I'm thankful to have a roof over my head, a car that runs great and a job that pays enough to pay the bills. Wishing everyone that isn't so lucky a change for the better.

There are many more things, but that covers the essentials.

Have a wonderful day, everyone!

OMG! OMG! OMG!

I literally cannot sit still, and wish more than anything that I had more daylight to play with and fewer desserts to make for Thursday!


I went to the barn after work, to see how Promise was doing, if there was any improvement, etc. She was already outside by the time I got there, so I let myself into the paddock and said hi. I then proceeded to be a rather mean Mommy and chased her away from her hay. At first, she walked off and stopped, then looked at me like, "You can't be serious." I shooed her again, and had to finagle my body language so she didn't go into the runoff ditch, but rather went to the larger area of paddock so I could see her move. She trotted away from me, and looked sound from behind. 


Then she went around the corner and it was hard to tell anymore. So, I made her turn and asked her to trot off again. She trotted away again, but this time I was able to see her from the side. It could have been the light, but I don't think my eyes were playing tricks on me. I think I know my horse well enough even at dusk to see the truth! 




Shhh! I don't want to jinx it. But...I *think* she might be sound!

2 days later

The pony is definitely feeling better after the stifle injection. She looks fantastic at the walk - and she willingly and easily stayed beside me walking to the arena. Yes!


However, while she definitely looks A LOT better, she is still pretty off at the trot. When I let her off the lunge line and shooed her away, she willingly took off at a pretty forward trot. She looks better on a straight line than she does on a circle. Not surprised, circles are tough, especially with arthritis. But, she was off, even in a straight line, so I can't get on her to eliminate the lunging on a circle factor...yet. She also cantered all by herself, ON all four legs. She kept it slow, and did about half the arena two or three times, before stopping and holding the right hind up for a couple of seconds. She cross-cantered to the right, and switched without me asking her to after a couple of strides.


Still...all of this is progress. Previously, she wouldn't canter at all if I let her loose, or if she did, it was on three legs. Today, she cantered with the same amount of pressure I use to make her walk around. A good sign...she clearly wanted to do it. Also, she was tossing and rolling her head -- she REALLY wanted to play and buck. But she seems to know her body isn't quite there yet. When I went up to her to bring her back to the barn, she rolled her head around three times and looked at me with a hairy eyeball, as if saying, "Mom, if I felt just a little better, I'd make you work to catch me!" I had to laugh, and I actually hope she does just that in the near future!!


I haven't lost hope yet. I keep reminding myself it has only been 2 days since the injection. And, she may need longer to feel the full effect. I hope in a week or so I will be able to report that she's sound enough to ride. 

Cross your fingers!

This vet was interesting and challenging. I think he's probably the type of person you have to get used to...meaning that he's a bit of a smart ass when asking you to tell him what you see before he gives his own opinion. Not in a mean way, just in a smart ass way, lol.


First, he asked me about the history of the injury/lameness. So, I told him that it was diagnosed over a year ago as a strained collateral ligament in the right stifle. He laughed and wanted to know how that was diagnosed without x-rays or an ultrasound. Fair enough dude, but that's what I was told. I said she was sound last Christmas, after 16 weeks of stall rest. In the spring, she was not quite lame but not quite sound. In August, she restrained it, or tweaked it, or something, and has been lame since.


He watched her walk, and then examined her hocks, and stifles. He says he can feel the arthritic changes in the hocks without even seeing an x-ray of them, and had me feel what he was talking about (the trainer was holding her so that I could be more interactive). He was more concerned about the windpuffs than my normal vet (which I am considering changing now), and said we could certainly call them that, and asked if I knew what a "windpuff" was. I said, well, I have read about them, and according to that, they are basically caused by strain to the tendons. He agreed and said there was a good possibility they would cause lameness in the left hind eventually.


Fantastic. Not.


So, the right hind. He had the trainer trot her out, and then asked if she would lunge. I said yes, so the trainer lunged her. He asked what I saw. I said, she's stepping short, hiking the hip, twisting the leg and not reaching or swinging through the stride. He said, ok, she's also stabbing with the toe as she lands. 


After the lunging we brought her back to the driveway and he manipulated the stifle and had her trot off. It didn't help. He commented that although she's definitely not sound through the hocks, he didn't think that was the root of the problem...he agreed that the stifle is the issue, especially since she was shaking the entire time he was holding it up. Also, she was more than willing to stretch it back, and usually they want to protect the hock, so won't stretch the leg behind them. 


So, he asked what I wanted to do. I asked what he recommended. lol...I feel like most of the visit went this way, which is not a bad thing, necessarily. I appreciate being asked for my thoughts, since it's my horse. Even though I am not a vet, nor an expert, I do know my horse. And I definitely have opinions about her care. And, I feel like he kind of caters to that mentality. SO...he said, well, without doing x-rays or an ultrasound, I can't honestly tell you what's going on in the joint. If you want to x-ray it, I can come back another day (his tech had the x-ray today). Other than that, your options are to rest her more, or to inject the stifle, and/or the hocks. He commented that injecting her hocks might be difficult because of some of the bridging that has happened between bones, but it was possible.


Since there is no wrong answer, really, I have no problem being honest. I don't like injections, and I told him so. I have seen them work for 2 weeks and work for a year or more. I don't like the vagueness, or the dependence on how the body reacts. However, I said, I do think that injecting the stifle might be my only option at this point. But, I don't want to inject the hocks. I said, she doesn't seem to be in actual pain because of the arthritis, it seems to be stiffness, and she is still working out of it, even being lame because of the stifle. So, let's do the stifle and see what it does. So, he doped her up, spent 20 minutes scrubbing leg, and 20 seconds injecting the steroid into the joint. Then he gave her the vaccines she needed. 


He said I didn't need to go back to hand walk or anything tonight, to just let her be. She could be sound tomorrow, depending on her body, it could take a few days. If she's sound, there's no reason not to get on her. If she's not, let her rest. But if she's sound, there's no need to wait. Don't waste the injection. 


So anyway. The stifle has been injected. I will go up tomorrow night or Saturday morning and see how she's doing. I have my fingers crossed that this will work. Obviously, he can't give me any real concept of how long it will work, if it works, because it depends on how her body reacts to the steroid. He also took a look at the joint supplement she is on and commented that if it really has all the stuff it claims to, then it's great, but there's no real way to tell because it's not a regulated product. He recommended giving it a bit longer (she's been on it about 3 weeks) - and then possibly considering going back to corta-flx. He also thought that since hind shoes had worked for the arthritis before, it might not be a bad option to try it again. But, I am not sure if the barn would be kosher with that due to the group turnout situation. I'll hold off on that discussion to see how she does.

Vet

Promise is sharing a vet appointment with another horse on Thursday. It's not our normal vet, but the barn owner says he's just as good and suggested that maybe another opinion wouldn't be a bad idea, since he'd be there anyway. I don't disagree, plus we all love to share barn call fees, so who am I to argue? :) 


So, he'll give her the shots she's due for and hopefully do a lameness exam and/or x-ray or ultrasound.

A long update: Calling her bluff? Or...?

Last week, I was beginning to think Miss Promise was bluffing. It had been 2 weeks since her adjustment. I lunged her for 15 minutes the next day and 15 minutes two days after that. Then, unfortunately, I was unable to get to the barn for several days: I was away the following weekend, had to visit my grandmother on Monday and we had a little family get together in hospice for my uncle's birthday on Tuesday. 


So, on Wednesday last week, I headed back to the barn to see how she was doing. I spent a while brushing, massaging and stretching her. I have not skipped a day that she's going to work with the massage technique the chiro showed me. She seems to enjoy it - doesn't take long to get a sigh and some licking and chewing. It's also taking less time for the sensitivity to go away when I run my finger across her back on each side. Yes!


We headed to the round pen (the arena was buzzing with lesson kids) to spend 15 minutes or so on the lunge line. She looked ok to the left. She was really kind of paddling with the RH when it was on the outside, but I attributed that to muscle weakness and stiffness. After some trotting and a couple of laps of canter, then more trotting, she began to visibly loosen up. By this time, the lesson kids were leaving, so we moved to the arena for more level ground. To the right, she looked considerably better. So much so, that I couldn't resist the urge to trot her a couple more time around to the left, on the flat ground. About the same. No biggie, I know it's going to take time.


We finished up, and walked around a few times to let her catch her breath, and then I remove her halter and the lunge line. I shoo her down the hill to the arena so she can roll. She takes off at a canter...on three legs (literally, right hind IN THE AIR). 


What the hell is THAT maneuver? Freaked me out completely, and I had a mini panic attack as I tried to think back over our work and decide if I pushed too much, or what. I ask her to trot off and she uses all 4 feet, but looks awful. 


She wouldn't roll, and I saw one of the next lesson kids coming toward the arena, so I rehalter her and bring her back up to the driveway to finish cooling her out. She was moving slow, and dragging that RH toe again - which was not helping my sudden insecurities about her soundness. I hosed her legs and chest off, and then we walked...I think we walked for about 20 minutes - it was in the 80s and she is fat and unfit and hadn't eaten dinner yet. The strange thing is, she seemed ok on the cement part of the driveway, and more lame on the sand. I wondered if she was struggling some with the depth of the footing. I kept trying to convince myself the muscles were tired. They probably were. Plus, about a week off.


The barn owner came over to ask how she did, and when I told her, she spent a few minutes showing me the pressure points I hadn't been able to see during Promise's adjustment, because I'd been at her head...how to get her to lift and stretch her back by pressing the pressure point at her hind end, and also how to stretch her tail to elongate her spine. She suggested incorporating these exercises into our new routine.


We walked some more after that, and she seemed slightly better again. So, when we came back to the barn, I cross-tied her, groomed and massaged her, and then rubbed both her hocks and stifles with some liniment gel. I figured it couldn't hurt, especially if she was already feeling sore from having a few days off.


~*~


Thursday night, I headed to the barn feeling a little worried. It had been raining all day long at my office, and although the radars showed it being clear at the barn, I knew it wouldn't last. The cold front that was heading in promised lots of rain with it. Sure enough, the sky went from dark to blue and sunny back to dark, the closer I got. 


Promise had already eaten dinner and been turned out by the time I got there. So, I brought out the lunge line and my brush box, grabbed a couple of mints and headed out to get her, halter and lead draped over my shoulder. I whistled and she looked up and started walking toward me. Good mare! She looked pretty good at the walk.


Brought her in, brushed her, stretched her legs, massaged her back and hips, did 3 back lifts, and 3 tail stretches, then did our carrot (*ahem* mint) stretches. Then we headed to the arena. 3 minutes walk to the left - not too bad. 5 minutes trot, all the while I am walking with her to give her as much area as possible to work in - she gets better as she loosens up, which includes a spook as her herdmates take off running, and a pretty floaty and sound trot when she forgets I'm watching. 


"Promise, I think you're bluffing." I say to her. She starts paddling with the right hind again. I let her canter a couple of times around and then more trotting. She doesn't get any worse with the paddling, so we change direction. She looks better to the right. The paddling seems to magically disappear and her stride gets a bit more fluid. She has a hard time picking up the right lead. I make her come back to the trot when she's wrong, and we try again. Eventually, she either gets it right, or switches for me. I'd rather she get it right. After a couple of times around, I ask her to trot, let her trot a few times around and then ask for the canter again. She gets the lead. I make a HUGE deal out of it, and let her trot. By the end, she is tired, but looks pretty good. 


I'd say 85% is fair. It's certainly not 100% but it is good enough to be doing what we're doing. 


As an aside, I had this conversation with my vet after the initial hock arthritis conversation several years ago when she was recommending injections. I don't like hock injections, I've seen them work for months, bordering on a year or so, on some horse and barely last 2 weeks on others. That's too much of a gap for me. We opted to put shoes on her hind feet then since she was on solo turnout, and that helped maintain much of her soundness with a fairly simple solution. As the vet and I discussed - and surprisingly enough, she didn't disagree - I would rather have 85% 9 times out of 10, than push too far with maintenance too soon. However, since coming to this farm, she's had no hind shoes, as she goes out in a group.


~*~


Anyway. Friday, I decided to go pick on her again, and then take Saturday for myself, and let her rest. It was chilly (50s or low 60s), so I dragged out her cooler - I didn't want to chance she'd break a sweat and catch a chill on the way back to the barn, with the sudden weather change. And, hey, it's hers, she might as well carry it to the arena for me!!


After removing it, we started to the right, and she looked good. She was visibly stiff. We did a LOOOOOOONG walking warm-up about 10 minutes in each direction. Then we started to trot to the left. She looked pretty bad. Hip-hiking on the right, but no head bobbing. She definitely loosened a little more after a circle or two of canter, but I didn't make her do as much to the left because watching her made me feel awful for making her trot! She wasn't unhappy, ears were alert, and listening to me, no tail swishing or anything, but...I guess I am unsure just how much to push and I obviously don't want to do more damage. I'd rather take it slow and err on the side of caution. Trot work was ok to the right, but she wouldn't pick up the right lead at all. I let it go, knowing that at 16, I'm not doing any permanent damage to our training by not pushing the issue. I'd rather let it go and not have her over exert herself. 


Afterwards, I did our normal routine of massage, and rubbed her hocks and stifles with liniment again. 


~*~


On Saturday, around 1 p.m., the barn owner called me to tell me that Promise had come in looking lame on both hind legs. With a high of about 50*F, that didn't surprise me (now before you pick on me, remember we are used to 85-90*F, so it FEELS COLD!), but was still really upsetting to hear. I opted to not drive out there unless she seemed worse later on, so the barn owner said she'd call me back after her next round of lessons and let me know if there'd been any change. Around dinner time, the woman who had been lunging her for me last spring called. She said she looked about the same, and hadn't moved much, but didn't look unhappy. I told her to leave her in overnight, and I would be up in the morning as planned.


~*~


Sunday morning, I pretty much have the barn to myself. I talk with the lunging lady for a few minutes before she heads out -- her horse is lame, too -- and we both suspect arthritis is the majority of the cause for both mares. I take Promise out, do the new routine with her, and we head to the arena on the lunge line. She walks out to the right looking incredibly stiff. I encourage her to be forward and just relax, and after 5 minutes or so, she starts to swing with the left hip a bit. The right is still pretty short. I have her walk for about 15 minutes to the right, during which time, she tries to trot on her own a few times. Finally after the 15 min. warm-up, I ask her to trot. It's pretty ugly. I let her go around a few times, and bring her back to a walk and switch direction.


15 minutes of walking. It takes her another 5 for the left hip to start swinging again in this direction. The right hind does eventually start to reach a little more, but is still falling short. She offers to trot a couple times here, too, but I make her wait the 15 minutes, and then only let her go around twice. It's even uglier in this direction.


Finally, I let her loose, hoping she'll roll. And I encourage her to free walk around the arena a few times in each direction by keeping some pressure on her, but not enough that she feels compelled to go faster than a walk. She does trot a little on her own on the grass just outside the arena. And, she doesn't end up rolling, even when I leave her alone for a while and go clean up our stuff, get her some hay, etc. She comes to the gate to greet me when I come back for her, and keeps up with me as we walk back to the barn.


~*~


So. I'm at a loss again. The majority of the stiffness is her hocks, and she's walking and trotting out of that. But now the actual lameness from the stifle seems to have come back. I am pretty confident in saying she is not "out" again, so don't want to call the chiropractor back. She is due for some shots, however, so either I or the barn owner will be scheduling an appointment in the next couple of weeks for that, and I will be taking a sick day to be there for the lameness exam I want the vet to do while he's out.


I feel like the hocks are minor enough, since she's still working out of it pretty quickly, that they are the least of my concerns at the moment. I really just want this stifle healed. I probably will opt for an ultrasound and/or x-ray, and perhaps do a stifle injection, if my vet does that. (I am not sure I can afford this vet visit, but on the bright side, they will bill me and do installments for payment!)


Otherwise, I'm at a loss of what to do. 


I am admittedly well beyond my realm of horse knowledge here, and don't honestly know what the problem is anymore, beyond that it is the stifle causing the problem. She could have arthritis in the stifle now, from this injury. It could be torn, or a bone chip, or...who knows without those in-depth looks into the joint? I can't keep wondering why, though. I need to know more. I really need to stop feeling like I'm muddling through doing the best I can with this, because unfortunately, the adjustment only lasted two weeks, and now I'm back to square one. 


I am against putting her back on stall rest, and I feel it does more harm than good for her. So, unfortunately, if he recommends that again, I may need to seriously consider moving her to a place with some acreage where she can be on pasture 365 days, and really only come in to be wormed and have her feet done. I'm not sure my current barn can accommodate this type of pasture board, as they don't have quite the space I'd like her to have to move around. She'd probably have to go to Ocala to get it. 


But, we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Same goes for the other, not-so-good-option, that has also been weighing on my mind again. 


Is she bluffing? Is it the cooler weather?