Hurray! So its almost exactly three weeks since he injured himself, and he's been sound for two days in a row!
I mentioned that last Saturday I ponied him around the trails and started him back trotting a little bit at time. He did really well that day, then had Sunday off. When I went out for lunch on Monday he was harassing the old mare and trying to get her to run. He probably galloped around for a good 10 minutes solid, bucking, kicking, rearing galore and of course he slipped and tripped and stumbled (being a clumsy awkward teenager). I caught the last bit on video. He finally got the old mare to move around with him, but the despite how crazy he looks, the major part of his rodeo was actually already over. I did catch his "I'm hot and sweating and I SO need to roll" move, he does it all the time. Just a little bit in he totally slips and it makes me cringe every time I watch it. No wonder he can't heal! So with all that I really thought it was time to put a stop to this and keep him confined if he was just going to be silly and hurt himself, but although you can tell he still looked off when he was trotting, and it looks like cantering was easier, but he just was fine walking afterward. By the time he was done with his shenanigans he was puffing and dripping in sweat. Silly boy... what am I going to do with him? So I took advantage of a hot horse on a surprisingly warm day, and gave him a really good hose down. Then his rehab for the day consisted of 20 minutes of walking until he was dry.
Dun, da, dah! Tuesday he was sound, even at the trot! YEAH! I took him to class and trotted him out for the two trainers. One said, "Which leg is he lame on?" The other guessed it correctly based on a slightly shortened stride on that side. So I lunged him walk-trot and I could barely even see it, and wouldn't have noticed a thing if was looking for something to be wrong.
Today, he was perfectly sound again. I lunged him for 20 minutes walk-trot (well mainly walk-trot, he did burst into a gallop a few times... and did a lovely leap into the air! grr...) but he looked great. So we are on the upswing of things. Hurray!
I'm hoping for a week solid of progressive trot conditioning and continued soundness. I'm so relieved to have a happy healthy horse again.
3 comments:
Well if that video was taken today that horse is not sound and you should definetly not be letting that horse dork around like that. He gets up from rolling on 3 legs and frequently does not bear weight on the leg. Exercise is good but controlled exercise is better. Going to be a lot longer recovery if you keep doing that.
I'm sorry if it maybe it wasn't clear in the blog... I really am just sort of journaling for myself, so I wasn't really prepared to defend my decision to not confine him. Fear not, I'm not an idiot, I do have my horses best interest at heart, and I'm making educated decisions with some sound advice from others.
No, he is NOT sound in the video! I'm documenting a rehab in progress. So of course he's not sound! The whole point of the blog was that despite running around like an idiot, and slipping terribly, he was still sound for his 20 minute walk after all that! That in itself a huge step forward for us. The even better news was that he was almost totally sound at the trot on Tuesday, and even better trotting on Wednesday. Please understand that I'm celebrating the progress, and in no way was that the video from Monday demonstrating that he was anything but a silly young horse that is still in progress. But making good progress!
As far as locking him up, I discussed it with the vet and we agreed that the constantly moving in the pasture all day would help with the healing process. Yes, he might be re-injuring himself when he's running! But if that's how spunky he's feeling then he'd be even spunkier penned up and could do just as much damage pacing around since tight turns, pivots, and backing were all painful to him in the beginning.
Hope that clears things up! I'm sure you meant well, but the comment sounded a bit harsh!
Hmmm, definition of 'sound' then is the problem. A lameness is graded on a scale of 1-5 with 1 being a lameness only notable at a fast trot or tight circle or in the first few steps after a lameness exam. If he is not sound in any of those situations, then he is lame. Any hint of a problem and he fails a vet check and is clinically lame and un sound. What I saw in the video was a progressive worsening of the lameness with increasing apparentness. Movement is important for this type of injury, it just needs to be a little more controlled with less bucking and rearing around a pasture, if need be go in a smaller pen with a buddy to keep him calm.
I didn't mean to sound harsh, comes from having to give myself a timed 10 minute allowance on Blogger otherwise I end up on here all night instead of studying ;) I love you guys and would hate to see anything else happen to him, and you guys were doing so good before this!
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