Down the Rabbit Hole

As I briefly mentioned in my last post, things with Spring haven't been the best lately.  After an incident about two months ago with another rider, her behavior under saddle has gradually gotten worse - to the point that during our last ride she reared three times when asked to go forward (after a perfectly normal warm up).  Trainer A, who had been giving us private lessons for the past few months, no longer felt comfortable with the situation until we figured something out because she has not had much experience with horses that rear (totally understandable!) and Trainer K is approximately 8.9 months pregnant.  Also, after getting off and then getting back on to quickly w/t/c and reinforce to the mare that rearing =/= getting out of work, I'm not particularly comfortable with the idea of riding her right now.  Spring's back palpated sore after that last ride, but she wasn't lame. 

The chiro came out this week, and said that aside from a very tight back and slightly sore hips, there was nothing specifically wrong with my mare.  She said that her hind end joints all felt fine, and noted that she was not behaving particularly well on the ground, which is unusual for her (and has been gradually getting worse over the last couple of weeks).  The vet was due out that same day, so I left Spring in for her to take a peek out.  She watched her go on the lunge, palpated her back, and said that she looked mildly lame in the hind end due to her inability to hold the canter without bunny hopping a few steps in.  She had a list of three possibilities: (1) Spring's hocks are bothering her, causing the difficulty cantering and the under saddle issues, combined with her coming into heat in a way that has made her exceptionally bitchy on the ground; (2) Spring has an ovarian tumor that is pressing on her ovarian ligaments, causing her to move out stiffly to compensate for the pain and also causing hormonal changes that are manifesting in her behavior on the ground; or (3) a very unusually presenting (and very unlikely) case of EPM.  

Initially, the plan was to try her on three weeks of bute to see if pain management allowed her to use her body in a pain-free way, which should correct her canter issues and make her an overall happier horse.  However, after researching ovarian tumors, I felt that having the vet back out to check was a good idea because if that was causing Spring's issues, she could become unsafe to the point that she could no longer remain in group turnout.  Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), the ultrasound was clean.  Spring was also reset on the day of the ultrasound, and the farrier said that he thought she was having issues with her stifles.  When I discussed this with the vet, she felt very strongly that the issue was Spring's hocks.  And the chiro had felt that all of Spring's assorted hind leg joints were fine.  Thus far, no one has suggested kissing spine (although I actually think it fits the situation pretty well). 

With all of this new information to play with, I'm kind of at a loss as to what to do moving forward.  The vet wants to come back in three weeks (assuming the bute works) to inject Spring's hocks, but the farrier very strongly feels that it's her stifles, and I'm not going to randomly start injecting my horse's joints when really no one is 100% sure at this point what, exactly, is the problem.  The last time I went down this road, the vet was CONVINCED that Leo had navicular.  Multiple blocks later we still hadn't found the problem.  So, despite the vet telling me that it was unnecessary because she is sure it's Spring's hocks causing the issue, I'm leaning towards taking her to the University to do an assessment with the lameness locator.  Last time I didn't go that route initially, and I ended up with a ridiculous amount of vet bills that could have been saved if I'd listened to Leah and just gone to the University in the first place.  

I can't believe that I am having to type these words again, barely a year after I typed them about a different horse with a different set of problems, but I just want my horse back.  It's incredibly hard not to feel completely discouraged right now, and my personal life isn't really doing a whole lot to make up for all the problems I'm having with Spring.  It was a lot easier to stay positive the first time around.