Bad to Worse ::PLEASE READ::

Yesterday was my day off and I went up to the barn in the afternoon, planning to ride Emmy, turn in and feed the horses, eat dinner myself and then ride Johnny after. This is my basic daily routine with them. I went out to the pasture, got Emmy and brought her in and put her in cross ties. She had rolled on one side, so I started on her muddy left side with the curry comb, just like always. I worked from her face, down to shoulder and front legs, across her back and down her left hind leg. I groom in a funny pattern...starting on one side I groom from top to bottom (head to hind leg) and then I will circle around to her other hind leg, groom that and then start back up at the other side of her head and work my way back down. I don't know why I do it...but that's how I've always done it.

Yesterday, I went down her left hind leg, scrubbed the mud off her heels with my mitt and then reached back up to the right hind

and froze.

Her entire leg, from her hock down was HUGE. I immediately dropped the mitt and started running my hands over it...there were no cuts, no scrapes, no sign of outward trauma to the leg itself (such as a kick or a cut) except for a small scrape on her OTHER hock which was fresh that day. The entire leg was completely swollen and filled in, but the most swelling is below her hock. There was heat there also. My heart sank as I straightened up and grabbed her lead rope "Emmy...what did you do?"

I walked her out of the barn and onto the pavement outside. She seemed to be walking fine. She was perky and happy. I asked a friend to trot her up the driveway for me. He took her to the end, turned her around and started jogging her. I held my breath.

Emmy trotted up the drive and past me, happy as a clam. No head bobbing, no limp, no off step. Nothing.

What? With so much swelling how could she not be lame?

I asked him to trot her again. Still nothing.

I won't lie, I was freaking out a bit. After dealing with her suspensory injury almost 4 years ago, the sight of what looked to be a similar injury with no outward cause was enough to make me almost call the vet right away (and I NEVER call the vet...) for an ultrasound.

I immediately put her on ice and continued to look for the cause.

My dad came up later to help me flex test her. Maybe a funny step as she stepped off, but other than that she was totally fine. She did not however, like me picking her foot up at first. We flex tested her twice with almost not result. After that, he held her while I cold hosed it. I poulticed it and wrapped it for the night. "It will be better tomorrow" I thought, "she must have just bumped it."

This morning I went up to the barn early before work and took the wraps off to find her leg completely unchanged. I put it on ice again while I got the horses breakfast ready, left a note for the barn owner to leave her in today, and wrapped it back up again.

Since I only work a half day on Sundays, I went back to the barn around 1:30 when I got home. Took the wraps off again to find still no change. Hand walked her for about 20 minutes on the trails. She was bright eyed and eager to go, occasionally prancing beside me and trying to trot off. After our walk I checked it again. Still no change. I cold hosed it again for 20 minutes and let her loose in the yard to eat grass while her leg dried. No change.

What could possibly be going on with her? She has no temperature, no digital pulse...other than the fact that it's a swollen balloon she seems totally fine, although she does pick it up when you first touch it, but then she sets it back down and doesn't mind. The swelling is firm and fills in her entire leg. My biggest fear is that she has injured a tendon or ligament (not all soft tissue injuries cause lameness) although a few friends have suggested different things. My one friend's horse had the same kind of mysterious swelling (also in the hind leg) and ended up blowing out an abscess 4 days later, but if it was an abscess, wouldn't there be a pounding digital pulse? Another friend suggested a bone bruise...I'm not really sure what to think! As of right now, we are going to play the "wait and see" game for a couple days, with the number 1 priority being to get the swelling out of her leg. I started her on 2 grams of bute, cold hosing and walking 3 times a day, and poulticing without wraps at night. My old trainer thought it would be better to leave them off so that they don't hold heat against her leg. I suppose if she's sound she doesn't need the wrap? I'm still concerned for a tendon/ligament injury, but my old trainer suggested that I don't jump to conclusions and take it one step at a time. I suppose she's right, because a vet wouldn't tell me to do anything other than what I'm doing and with the leg being so swollen, you wouldn't be able to get a good ultrasound anyway until the swelling went down.

Still, I'm very concerned.

Here is a photo that I took today on my phone...sorry there is still some poultice on that I hadn't curried/washed off yet. See how swollen the inside of the leg is below the hock? It's also filled in all the way around...totally stocked up. Does anyone have any ideas? It looks worse in 3D...

Please comment if you have an idea/suggestion... I'm kind of at a loss!

Peace.Love.Ponies.

Life After The Life After

Since being home from school for the summer, something has really been weighing on my mind.

My dad brought it up the other day when he mentioned that I was not half way through my college years and headed towards the real world in just two more short years.

The question that I have been pondering so hard these past few days is "what am I going to do with Johnny when I graduate?"

Emmy isn't going anywhere. She was my first horse; my 13th birthday present. She is currently 23 years old and will be 25 by the time I graduate college. She's with me until the day that she dies.

Johnny on the other hand, will only have just turned 19 when I graduate (funny how I say "ONLY 19 like that's a good thing...) and will hopefully have long years of use ahead of him. Selling him isn't really an option...well it is, but it isn't just because I would hate for him to end up getting bumped around from place to place. I don't like the thought of selling horses which are older and not as sought after as younger horses because, generally speaking, they end up getting bounced around from place to place and treated improperly in the process. I want to know that, wherever he ends up, he will always come back to me if that person can't take care of him anymore. I know that you can write first right of refusal into a sale contract, but let's face it, Johnny just isn't all that sale-able. He'll never vet clean because of his front leg splints and his conformation is a little wacky. He's not fancy enough to be a hunter and not quite athletic enough to be a "real" jumper (aka: show at the 3' height)  Plus, I don't know anyone who would want a 19 year old Standardbred.

Then again, you never know where he might be in two years. Maybe he'll be going 3'...maybe he will be broken (I hope not on the latter!). Two years is an eternity yet goes by in a flash, so I want to start preparing for it now...how should I prep this horse to make him successful for someone else in the event that I get a job somewhere and can't keep him anymore?

E made a suggestion first semester as we were playing around with Johnny in Maplebrook's indoor. Somewhere between me pulling a tarp over his body from head to tail (while he stood without a halter) and E hanging hula hoops over his neck and off his ears, did she suggest that Johnny might make a great therapy horse. "He's super quiet, he's easy and he's not afraid of anything" she said. Therapy was something that I had never considered for him. The thought had briefly crossed my mind with Emmy when I was getting ready to go to college as a freshman, but I quickly shot it down when I thought of a) all the little quirks Emmy has which can make her difficult/intimidating and b) how unhappy I thought she would be in a super-controlled program, not to mention that fact that she responds totally differently to different people. She's very much a one person horse and therapy horses get handled by different people all the time.

Johnny on the other hand, might be perfect. While 19 is fairly old for a donation (most places accept horses up to 20 years old) it might just be the best place for him. I researched some qualities which are sought after in therapy horses to see how he compares. Here is a list:

1. Height vs. weight carrying ability:  (Johnny is 16 hands and rock solid. He's a Standardbred for goodness sake!)
2. Temperament: He's got the best temperament I've ever seen in a horse...he give and gives and gives no matter what you do to him.A dressage judge/trainer once told me that he has the kindest eye and he never gets frustrated. He just keeps trying to do what you want.
3. Training and train-ability: Although he doesn't have a whole lot of training under his belt right now, he's sharp as a tack and smart as can be. He learns faster than any horse I've ever ridden. The Standardbred breed is known for being highly train-able.
4. Soundness: Most places recommend that the horse be sound in at least the walk and trot. So far, so good on this one. Plus, his canter is so smooth that he would be perfect for someone who's learning or has a disability.
5. Conformation: This refers more to the horses actual weight carrying ability than anything else. Johnny's conformation isn't super correct, but it doesn't hinder his ability to carry taller or heavier riders.
6. Health: We don't have any chronic health issues other than a seasonal cough and a runny eye (which might be the beginning of mild Uvitis...I'm not sure how that would affect him later in life, but right now it's not a problem. He wears a fly mask for turn out on sunny days and that's it. His hooves are good and strong. He only wears front shoes and he grows good hoof.
7. Movement: Lets face it, Johnny isn't the world's best mover because of his breed. This is the only thing we might have a problem with because his trot to the right can get a little wonky...but who knows where that might be in a couple years? Like I said before, his canter is smooth as silk.
8. Spook-ability: We've got this one down pat. See above about the tarp. He's not afraid of anything that would spook a normal horse.
9. Age: 19 is near the top of most program's cut-off ages, but if he's got everything else going for him and he's sound, maybe this won't be a huge problem?

So what do you think? Sound like it might be a plan?

Peace.Love.Ponies.

References:
http://hubpages.com/hub/Would-your-horse-make-a-good-therapy-horse