An Update on Cool

Cool's silhouette...such a pretty boy!

Cool's ankle (the right one) with it's swelling in comparison to the white leg (not swollen). Hopefully nothing is wrong with his suspensory...the swelling is in a spot that makes me nervous. After having yesterday off, N helped me flex test him today. I did distal (fetlock) flexion and carpal flexion and didn't get a real reaction in either. He actually seemed to be sound when N jogged him down the concrete barn aisle, so that was good. I'm still concerned with the filling in that right front ankle though. As far as I'm concerned, it shouldn't be there. I iced him for a little while today but it didn't seem to really help. Walking up and down the barn driveway did seem to help a little though. The above photo is from before his walk.

This photo if from after walking a little. I wish I had the other leg in it to compare. It's still a little puffy, but not quite as bad as the photo above. Hopefully it's just a tendon sheath maybe? I'm hoping that some long slow distance work (LSD work), maybe walking up and down the driveway, which has slight hills to rehab him. I think that for the rest of this week I will walk him in hand and after that maybe I will start walking him under saddle.

Out to graze while going for our walk.

Poor Coolio :(

I'm hoping to start Emmy back walking under saddle soon too. I started the LSD work up and down the driveway with her also today. She's seemed a little depressed lately :(

Peace.Love.Ponies.

Frustrated.

Yesterday started off as such a beautiful day at the barn. It was so nice and warm outside, Emmy and Cool both went out in the pasture with just their cotton sheets on and had a good canter around the field. It's so beautiful to watch them race each other down across the field and then loop back up and canter side-by-side back towards the gate. Unfortunately, that was pretty much the highlight and the entire day kind of went down hill from there :(

I set up and short low jumping course for Cool, consisting of a diagonal cross rail, a single vertical on the long side and a low 3 stride line down the other long side that was a cross-rail to a vertical. I let him finish his dinner and digest, then tacked him up and went to go school him around and see how he was. I figured that if we were going to head out to the horse show today, I had better jump him around a little bit to see what I had.

Friday he just gotten turned out because I wasn't feeling well, so I figured that he would be ready to rock and roll Saturday.

False.

I got on him and started trotting him. To the right he felt fine, but to the left he was head-bobbing. Not really lame per say, just head bobbing and moving funny up front. It was the strangest feeling ever, like if I let go of the reins and closed my eyes his body wouldn't have felt lame, but he was clearly bobbling his head up and down. At first, I tried to ride through it a little, thinking that maybe he was stiff or the footing was bad (the ring hasn't been dragged in a few days, so it really is starting to alternate between hard and deep spots). I kept him off the rail where the sand was softer and tried to just trot for a while, changing directions numerous times and really sending him forward, then bringing him back. When that didn't help, I let him canter a lap in each direction to swing his back. Once again, to the right he felt fine, but to the left (which is already his bad direction) his canter felt terrible. Very up and down and choppy as if her were locked in his shoulders and just stabbing his legs at the ground. After that, let him trot another lap and then got off. On the ground, I took his boots off and felt his legs. Of course, everything seemed a little warm from the boots but nothing stuck out as being a major problem area. His right front ankle (what is it with my horses and right front problems? I SWEAR I work them evenly on both sides!) seemed maybe a teensy bit fluidy. This is, of course, the leg that he was lame in so badly over the summer. What he did to it then, I will never know, but maybe it was the problem again? I undid his running martingale, ran up my stirrups and proceeded to jog him in hand around the ring. He really did look funny up front, like he wasn't wanting to actually reach forward and extend his leg, but still not really limping.

Deflated and disappointed, I took him to the wash stall, stripped his tack, and started cold hosing. I mainly did the right front, but I honestly hosed every leg for a little bit. His hind legs have been stocking up lately too if he doesn't get bandaged in his stall...something that he has NEVER done before, even while spending multiple days in his stall at home due to weather. I don't understand any of it...and I'm starting to just get frustrated with horses in general at this point. I know that I don't own super fancy, expensive horses. I know that their conformation is not perfect and that their "way of going" is often flawed to some degree, but I also know that I give them the best care possible, the most turnout that I can, basic supplements as needed to support their joints and health, bandages/boots as needed (see above comment about their "way of going") to protect their legs during work but naked freedom in turnout so as not to make them "soft." I take care of them when they are sick or hurt, I ride them on decent footing and I don't ever push them to do anything that might compromise their health or soundness...for goodness sake, I barely even work them. And what do I get for it? Nothing but a barn full of lame horses.

Maybe I should be like some of the other riders at my barn and like other people I know and only clean their stalls every few days when they feel like it...and only turn them out when its convenient for me, and then ride them hard and incorrectly with big bits and naked legs. Maybe I should just do that, because those freaking horses never have a thing wrong with them. Meanwhile, here I am walk/trot/cantering my gelding for maybe 30 minutes and he's unsound? Seriously? Emmy I can understand...she's 25 years old and she's been through a hell of a lot in her life, but Cool? He's 8 years old and spent from ages 8 months to 6 years living in a pasture doing nadda.

Could it be that he just bucked a little too hard in the field and maybe pulled something? Absolutely, and I really hope that's the case...either that or an abscess blowing out. I know that freak, unexplainable things happen; I know that a horse can simply take a bad step and bow a tendon at the walk. I have personally watched a (very expensive) horse with the absolute best care possible, trot across a diagonal on perfect footing and break a hind leg. I know that it doesn't take always take hard work and extremes to make a horse lame. I know that it can happen anytime...but still, it frustrates me none-the-less. Not even for missing the horse show, but just for the simple fact that another one of my horses is (at least kind of) lame.

Peace.Love.Ponies.

I Need Your Help!

Hi guys! Sorry I've spent so much time away from my blog this summer. What a roller coaster past couple of month! The horses and I are back at school and all moved in, although Johnny has been a little bit of a disaster since coming here.


Last Friday he choked while eating his lunch grain (which, mind you, is only about a cup of food). After about 20 minutes of having a hose in and out of his mouth I called the vet when his legs started to buckle and he began trying to go down and roll. The vet came out and tubed him twice...what a mess and a disaster. The interesting part was that I got to play vet assistant a little bit and help hold and work the tube while the vet pumped water down it. Poor Johnny was ready to kill us. It was quite the learning experience, I just wish it could have happened under different circumstances (aka: not my horse). I came away with a massive vet bill and a very angry and sore animal.

Since then, I've been managing his diet (Tuesday was the first time he was allowed to eat a small amount wetted grain) closely and hitting him with antibiotics twice a day to prevent an aspiration lung infection. Tomorrow should be his last day of antibiotics.

Of course though, he had to try and kill himself again, doing god-knows-what in his stall. Monday night I tack walked him for 15 minutes and then put him away to help E jump Emmy around a little course. Tuesday afternoon when I went to the barn, I pulled Johnny out of his stall and his left front leg was a BALLOON. I assumed that maybe he had banged it (he had been pawing at his door the past couple days because he wasn't getting fed and he was MAD) so I didn't freak out and get overly concerned right away. I turned him out as usual and he trotted off into the pasture for maybe 10 steps before stopping to graze. He was sound, so I went about my business, cleaning his stall and such, and then brought him in and poulticed and wrapped both front legs just as a precaution. I also gave him a gram of bute.

Wednesday I pulled him out and took the wraps off.. The leg was still swollen. As I was grooming him, I noticed that his left hind leg was also a balloon. What the heck? I jogged him and he seemed fine. Turned him out again as usual, brought him back in and iced the front leg then hose and scrubbed both legs with medicated shampoo just in case (it never hurts to cover your bases lol) dried them thoroughly, applied some sports rub (I've got this SUPER cool sport liniment stuff for horses...it works amazingly!) to both legs.

Wednesday night I went back ans pulled the wraps again. The swelling in the LF had gone down enough for me to see that the problem area was really just below the back of his knee on either side (but mainly the outside) of the tendon. Uh-oh...
I palpated the tendon and don't really feel a whole lot of thickness to the actual tendon, but everything around it is swollen and I'm starting to get a little concerned. As I went over the rest of his legs I noticed that now the inside of the right hind was starting to swell. What the heck? This time I clipped all of his legs, washed them with bedadine, iced the LF again and applied the sports rub again to all 4 legs. I ended up wrapping the front but not the hind.

Yesterday morning he was looking about the same. I saddled him up and took him into the arena to jump on and see if he was sound. He was...totally sound and fine, but with three swollen legs. I was hoping that maybe he was just stocking up from standing around, but 15 minutes of walk, trot and just a teensy canter each direction didn't seem to make a difference at all. Afterwards, I turned him out and then iced the LF again. It looked a little better after the turnout and the ice. I sports rubbed them all again and wrapped the front.

Last night I went back up late to give him his second daily dose of antibiotics and pulled the wraps again. The LF looked almost normal aside from the swelling up by the knee, but the RH and LH still looked the same. This time, I sports rubbed and wrapped all 4 legs. What on earth could be going on with him? There doesn't seem to be any major heat in any leg (its been 93 degrees here, so everything is a teensy bit warm, but no major concentration of heat.) but I've never known him to really stock up before either...and why would the RF be the only leg that ISN'T swollen? The RH is mainly just the inside, the LH is the whole leg and the LF is now mainly just up below the back of the knee. What are the possibilities that he maybe cast himself and banged around during the night Monday? That's really the only thing I can think of because he a) hasn't been ridden and b) hasn't gone out without me being there...so its not like he ran around like a crazy horse in the pasture...I've been watching him like a hawk for 7 days now. I would think that it was maybe normal stocking up but it doesn't seem to go down with movement and why would he only stock up in 3 legs? Also, the concentration of swelling below the front leg has me concerned...that's not normal stocking up. He's not lame and none of it really seems to bother him. He's not sore to palpate at all. I know that a horse can injure a tendon just by taking a bad walk step, but he was fine Monday night after I walked him...and wouldn't a tendon injury be accompanied by lots of heat and at least some kind of lameness?

What are your thoughts because I'm stumped!!

Peace.Love.Ponies.

A Rough Week

Sorry I've been SO inconsistent lately with updating. My life has been kind of a wreck lately, starting with Emmy being TERRIBLE with her penicillin shots (she's normally the queen of needles, she never cares about shots at all!) I can't blame her because the shots made her VERY sore, but it was a terrible ordeal to give them to her.

The second problem, is that, while the shots themselves were a pain, the biggest problem is that they didn't really help. I mean, the main swelling in her leg did go down, which is REALLY good, but the main problem spot below her hock (which I was originally concerned about) is still there, and is worse now then before. I called the vet again and asked her if it was possible for her to have injured a tendon sheath. The vet said that it was definitely possible and seeing as how she's not lame on it and the location of the swelling, I have a feeling that a tendon sheath is a real possibility and most likely what happened. I've been using a leg tightener on it daily (which doesn't seem to be doing much).

Johnny has been really good, although he hasn't gotten worked for a couple days because of the crappy rainy weather. The last time I REALLY schooled him I took him next door to the arena and set up little "jumps" (more like raised cavaletti with jump blocks), one each direction and we worked on trotting and cantering over them, both up and down the slope of the arena. Johnny was FABULOUS and we got a really good one cantering in on the right lead where he cantered in, jumped it, and landed in a perfectly balanced right lead canter! I called it a day with that! Yesterday I hacked him out on the road in the hackamore. Also got both canter leads and he was trotting excellent and up through his back :) We are going to the SCSHA Open Show this Saturday for our first walk/trot/canter flat classes...LOL wish us luck!

Outside of the horse world, my boyfriend and I broke up (we were pretty serious so this has been a REALLY rough time) it was really the last thing I needed on top of all the Emmy stress :(

And so, these are the reasons why no one has heard from me at all. I'm sorry my friends, I will try to keep on top of things better.

Peace.Love.Ponies.