The Repurposed Horse

Yesterday, I said goodbye to Leo and hit the road, bound for my home state of Indiana. From there, my dad and I are headed to Canada for a 5 day camping/canoe trip in the back country of Superior Provincial Park. Who is going to feed me cookies, Mom?! Initially I was pretty stressed about leaving Leo behind, as he is still at a slight risk for a joint infection, and I typically do not have access to cell phone service while on this particular trip. I was worried that the minute I turned my phone off for the week that something would go terribly wrong.  Thankfully, a call to Verizon led to a change in my plan that gave me unlimited data, international service, and reduced my monthly phone bill. Although my phone will be off the majority of the time, I can now plan to check it at least once a day to make sure that nothing has gone wrong. Leo has a great team taking care of him while I'm away, and Trainer K and I had a very candid conversation about what to do in case so...

Thank you all so much for your kind words on my last post.  We're still trucking along, getting used to our new normal. The Horse is Not Black  has a fun blog hop going on - here are ten questions for May 1 - What are your summer goals? Leo's lameness has caused my goals to change dramatically, unfortunately.  Before, it was all about training, gearing up for taking him to a cross country schooling or two, and hoping to compete in a Mini Event in August, all while saving up for a trailer.  Now, the future involves massive vet bills and a lot of unanswered questions.  Shows and schoolings will likely be impossible.  I'm still taking lessons on other horses, so I am able to keep riding, but I honestly don't have any goals set at the moment.  Everything is too up in the air.  Even moving Leo to a new place / purchasing a second horse is questionable at this point; if he needs surgery/stall rest/specialized care, he may have to stay at CE...

When we last left off, Leo was in stasis, waiting for his June 7th vet appointment at the University of Missouri, where fancy diagnostic tech will be used to determine the source of his lameness (in theory). There was also the slight but terrifying risk of an infection in the joint from a misplaced needle. At 8:30 this morning, I got the call that every horse owner dreads. Leo seemed to be lame at the walk, and three separate people felt that his right leg was hotter than the left; he was possibly exhibiting signs of an infection, and I felt like my entire world was crumbling around me. I immediately contacted my vet, threw on some clothes, and headed to the barn. He was still putting weight on the leg when I arrived, which was a very good sign, but it did feel slightly warm. I spent a tense 30 minutes waiting for the vet to get there, running through every possible scenario about a million times. I remembered at this point (I was pretty sleep deprived after an overnight shift a...

The mystery lameness saga has no end in sight.  The scratches have gone, the thrush has healed, and Leo is still lame. Leo and his across-the-fence BFF, Banks Yesterday, the vet came out to do a second lameness evaluation. She was expecting that he would block sound in the foot, and that we would find evidence of navicular changes in the foot. This was not unexpected; the only pain that he presented with during the initial exam was acute heel pain, and navicular had been mentioned at that time. I had (mostly) come to terms with it as being a real possibility, and though I was dreading the diagnosis, I was prepared for it. Blocks on blocks T hing is, Leo didn't block sound to the foot. He didn't block sound to the pastern, either. And the third block, the four-point that would have blocked the fetlock, didn't take. Up until that point, Leo had been handling the poking/waiting/trotting cycle incredibly well (he hates needles - typically it takes a stud chai...

Leo's soundness has (thankfully) not taken a turn for the worse after his dramatic tripping episode earlier in the week.  The scratches continue to slowly heal, and he continues to be somewhat lame.  No rain is currently in the forecast for this weekend, so he'll get to go outside during the day for a few days, which is most excellent because standing around in a stall pretty much 24/7 makes him (a) slightly crazy and (b) stocked up. Outside is better. I've kept up a pretty constant line of communication with my vet about Leo's progress, and she is still concerned that there may be something else going on with that leg.  If he isn't sound by Monday, and it looks like the skin issues have mostly cleared up, she is pushing for another lameness exam, during which blocks and radiographs will almost certainly occur.  I am still hoping that this is all related to his various assorted skin conditions (today, he has developed some sort of patchy looking funk in his ar...

Before getting to the Main Event that was the inspiration for the title of this post, a brief update - on Saturday, we discovered that in addition to the thrush, Leo has developed  scratches on both front legs.  It's particularly bad on the RF.  So, most likely it's an additional contributor to the lameness in that leg.   I. Hate. Mud. So much.  So  now he's getting treated for the scratches as well as the thrush, and he can go outside only if it's completely dry.  He's gone out for the afternoon the last few days, but rain is in our future so he may be stuck inside again tomorrow.  He's actually handling the stall rest pretty well, but I still feel bad for him.  Every time we turn him out it's adorable, and I have yet to catch it on video.  The scratches are responding to treatment, but it's slow going - if you have any tips, I'd love to hear them! We wore tack the other day. It was exciting. Today, I brought him in from ...

Leo has officially been 'off' for two weeks now.  After many conversations with my trainer, assistant trainer, farrier, friend's farrier, and my vet (via phone), we decided that it was time for a lameness exam.  My friend's farrier took a look at him today and noticed that he was extremely sensitive at the base of the frog/along the heel, and that although it could still be that an abscess was about to blow out, it wasn't very likely that that was the case. pictured: a horse that is about done with these foot soaks The vet and I were prepared to go the route of blocks and x-rays, but it turned out that they aren't necessary at this stage.  The lameness exam came up with nothing for the right front; flexion was all negative, and he wasn't sensitive to palpation along the tendon.  The hoof testers were brought out, and he was reactive - again - at the base of the frog and along the heel. Summary of how we were both feeling at this point Dr. G dug a...