Work up

So...I had made the decision to take Fleck to the vet in Aiken. I wanted him evaluated by someone who didn't know our history and someone who was removed from the situation. Someone who would tell me "he's done... let it go" or "we can fix this and he'll be good to go". Or even "he's got issues, but let's try to manage them". And honestly, I wanted to go to Aiken because I just didn't feel like dealing with the locals and the "gossip". Not that they gossip, but... I just wanted a fresh set of eyes without any baggage. So off we went. Luckily Kathryn was able to meet us there, which was helpful.

When we got there I told the vet what he was doing and what my thoughts were - he wasn't abducting the right hind and seemed scared/painful when he had to do it, how he wasn't pushing from behind, and how recently he was really lame but I couldn't tell where. So we watched him go and he was a bit off but not enough to really say where it was originating from. I did tell him that Wayne found a bruise on the front right two days ago when he was shod, and that he was still a teeny bit sore on it. Dr. Carter palpated him and agreed that it was not his stifle. He did say he thought he was a bit hock sore, but didn't push the issue. He noticed that when he pressed down on his ilium wing, Fleck was sore. Really sore on the right. He tried to isolate the hip and keep the hip joint from moving and Fleck was still sore. But it was hard to say whether he was really isolating the hip. We did some flexions and he was barely a 1 on any of them until we hit the right fetlock. Ouch! Yep... there was some arthritis there that I IRAP'ed originally but not since then.
So.. we decided to inject his hips because Kathryn and I still felt like that might be the issue, or at least close enough to the issue to help him. She said that while it's not necessarily THE issue, it allows THE issue to resolve for a lot of them because they tend to hold it in their hips. And because he was sore when the pelvis was pressed down on. We also injected his right fetlock. 

So..Fleck gets a few days off and then we see! I'm sure he'll feel better with that right front fetlock. I'm thinking that (or the stone bruise) was what was bothering him for my Beth lesson. But I'm hoping I'll notice a big difference with the hip injections. We're also starting him back on Adequan and we'll see. 

I really hope so. I miss riding the big guy.