First "real" ride minus shoes

Today it had finally dried out enough for Fuzzypony and I to head over to the arena and get in a serious ride. Well, serious being relative, since we only hacked around for about 20 minutes. It was 85 degrees and quite humid, and neither horse had much gas, so we kept it to a minimum.

I was really worried about how Saga would be. This was our first "real" ride without shoes, AND he was trimmed on Thursday. I've been watching him closely and he's taken some short steps, but I've also seen him canter on both leads out in the pasture and do some other stuff where he looked 100%. I was cautiously optimistic as I booted him up and hopped on...

... until we hit the pavement. OMG he was LAME. I almost got off, but then we got to a patch with fewer small rocks, and he improved. When we hit the trail, he started really striding out and stomping around. Yes, the ground was softer, and he preferred to stay on the grass. BUT! He was stepping evenly and seemed quite comfortable. We took the long way to the arena, and he did well except for the few rocky parts. He actually seemed a bit sore on his hinds, which is new. I think he's been walking on the hoof wall, and now that the wall is rolled, his (thin) sole has more contact with the ground. I'm wondering if I should get him hoof boots all around, instead of just the fronts?

Anyway, the ride went quite well! Both horses were super-sluggish due to the heat, and the flies were pretty bad (as evidenced by Saga's constantly swishing tail). We started with a bit of trot each direction. He was pretty curled up in front, which is a favorite evasion. I let him have a longer rein just to let him move forward, since that usually helps.







We then did a few canter circles each way. The canter transitions were horrid (par for the course), BUT... he picked up the right lead on the first try, and felt quite balanced and comfortable, even if he was a bit sprawly. Contrast this to our dressage clinic three weeks ago where we could NOT, for love nor money, get the right lead, and when we finally did, it was all over the place. Either the stifle injection or the Adequan (or both?) seem to be making him more comfortable, so that was very encouraging!

I'm hoping to squeeze in a ride tomorrow morning before it starts raining, and then we have a lesson scheduled for Wednesday. Fingers crossed!

Ultrasound, Adequan, Panecure, and how we nearly burned down the barn

First of all, Saga's ultrasound was Monday (sheesh, I'm so far behind). IT WAS CLEAN!!!! The radiograph was clean too, so we are left wondering why he's got fluid on his stifle. I discussed other possibilities with the vet (namely, hock and suspensory), but he felt like the flexion test results, plus the  fluid he could feel on the joint, all pointed to something in the stifle. We ended up injecting the joint after a long discussion of pros and cons (and a lot of research by me over the weekend). I haven't ridden him since Monday, but now three days later, he looks... pretty good, actually. Fingers crossed!

The vet also noted that he was 1/5 lame on the LF in addition to being off on the RH. The vet attributed the lameness to Saga not having shoes on, even though he did not react to hoof testers (remember, we jogged him out in boots and pads). A little research shows that front/hind end lameness are often on diagonal limbs, so it's possible that the LF issues we've been seeing since last fall are actually related to the RH stifle issue. We blocked the entire LF last fall and he didn't go sound, so maybe it wasn't the LF after all but actually the RH? Or the LF issue is causing the RH. I'm grasping at straws? ANYway, I've noticed that he seems better on the LF today than he did on Monday. Of course, I'm watching him walk out in the pasture, so it could be wishful thinking on my part. Hopefully we'll get a handwalk in on pavement tomorrow and I can do a better assessment.

I've also started him on Adequan, per vet's suggestion. He's had two doses so far, four days apart. I will probably not do the entire loading dose of 7 injections but will try 5 and then do them monthly. So maybe the Adequan is helping make him feel better all over, I really don't know. So many things are going on at once, it's going to be impossible to tell what's causing what. That's frustrating for diagnostic purposes for sure, but if he's improving, I'm pretty happy with that!

In other news, I decided to do the Panecure Powerpac on the boys starting March 1. I don't do the every-other-month worming since I've had several fecal tests come out negative, but at the vet's recommendation I am doing the Powerpac to get rid of what doesn't show up on fecal tests. Luckily, everybody is really good about about worming... except Cash. And when I say that Cash is bad about it, I mean like flipping-himself-over-backwards bad. We've tried the molasses syringe and the applesauce and every other trick in the book, and over the years he's just gotten worse. Doesn't matter who does it either, it's just awful. So... I tried sneaking the Panecure in his food and you know what? HE ATE IT!!! So except for the first night, I've been putting Panecure in all the boys' dinners, and they're still licking the bowls clean. Cash is really picky too, so I halfway expected him to turn his nose up at his "contaminated" food - but he didn't. Anyway, if you are trying to Powerpac your horse, consider seeing if they'll eat it hidden in their dinner.

And finally, yes, we did nearly burn down the barn tonight. When I went out to feed tonight, I smelled smoke. There's nothing quite like the smell of smoke in your barn to set your adrenaline going!!! I frantically glanced up at the hay loft to see if there was anything there (no), the sprinted to the barn storeroom where the chicks are. The storeroom was filled with smoke - one of their heat lamps had malfunctioned and ignited the shavings they were on, which were smoldering. I yelled for the hubby, grabbed Anie's bucket of water (hey, it was handy!), and doused the burned area.

 

Burnt shavings. Fortunately that's all that burned... we were SO lucky.

We were unbelievably lucky. I don't know how long the shavings were burning, but eventually the fire would have reached the wooden barn walls and ignited them, and the whole structure would have gone up. We totally dodged the bullet this time. Whatever deity was looking out for us today, I'm eternally grateful.

Go hug your horse(s), and make sure you know where the fire extinguisher is in your barn!

Vet exam results

The vet was out today to do annual teeth and Coggins (I do my own vaccinations so they're not all smushed together at once). Reddums checked out as normal in all ways, except his falling-down-drunk reaction to the sedative:

 

Noreally... Imma jusht... fiiiiiinnnne. I kin schtand by myshelf. Yuppppersssh, I'm fiiiiinnnne.

Next up was Cash. For a 23-year-old (he'll be 24 in April), the vet said that Cash's teeth look pretty good. He has one molar (209) on the top left that's cupping and is packing some food in, which may be causing him to eat less hay. We agreed to treat it conservatively and keep an eye on it, as well as up his feed to a level more appropriate for a horse eating minimal hay. I recently changed him over to Triple Crown Senior, and am working him slowly up to roughly 5 lbs per feeding, twice per day, plus a bedtime snack.

 Mmmfrnnnddddlllp. (Horse speak for "I'm gonna get you later for this, mom")

Saga... where do I start. I showed the vet my concerns with his front feet and he agreed 100%. We discussed taking rads of his feet to see how the sole was doing, but a quick squeeze with the hoof testers showed that it would be pointless. The sole was just as flexible as it was in November - in other words, the shoes have done NOTHING to help build sole depth. The good news is that he wasn't at all reactive to the testers, so we are starting off well. He also showed no response to palpitation on his back or in the sacral area, where he was sore in November, so that's good too. Unfortunately, given the condition of the soles I don't think the vet was excited about me taking him barefoot, which I understand. I'm still torn about it too, but something needs to be done about his feet.

I booted him up (since we'd be trotting on tarmac) so we could check the hind end for issues. He's been having trouble with canter transitions, and he's been feeling uneven when I change from one posting diagonal to the other, so I wanted to have the vet look at him. Long story short, he's got fluid in the right stifle and flexion made him trot worse. We took rads of the joint and they came back clean, but there's concern that it's a soft tissue injury. The portable ultrasound was with another vet today, so he's coming back Monday to ultrasound the area (unless I can get an appointment for him tomorrow, by some miracle). Worst case scenario, three to six months off.

Awesome. At least three to six months off will give him time to adjust to barefoot, right? Sigh.

I sort of have a semi-plan at this point, but we're basically on hold until we get the ultrasound results back. Until then, I'm reading up on stifles. Keep your fingers crossed it's something minor.