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?
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