Riding in the Rain

We headed out for a hack and as soon as we hit the XC field we noticed some rain ahead. And then it was on top of us. It came down quick and heavy!! Everyone else started trotting back to the trailers, so... we did too. They all got off and put their horses in the trailer. Fleck and I were like "Uh... why?!". Hee hee. We were already wet, so... I grabbed a jacket and hopped back on and we headed out. It quit about 10 minutes later and cleared up and was beautiful. We dried off pretty quick. :) It was a fun hack.

We headed to the jump field because Kelly and Peri wanted to jump. I did a few laps at the trot and Fleck started fine, but quickly it became obvious that he was still lame. :( Booooo..... Not going to lie... I'm highly disappointed. :( But... we still had a good ride. And I'll fix him.

Trust my Gut

So....Sunday he was worse. Even on 3 grams of bute. Our dressage ride was horrible and I'm the worst mom ever. :( I kept getting frustrated. There was a lot of commotion and Fleck was distracted and heavy and quick. I couldn't quite tell if anything was wrong though. He didn't feel great but he didn't feel awful.

 
Luckily Kelli and Peri showed up and came to watch. They said he looked off and they could see it immediately. Great.... :(  I'm horrible. :( So I got off and we were chatting. They both saw left hind, which is what I had been thinking because of the awful right lead canter. While we were chatting he kept cocking that left hind up. Then he wouldn't pick up his right hind for me. Sigh...

That evening he was still cocking the left hind and by Monday morning he wasn't putting weight on the foot if possible. He was toe touching but wouldn't put his heel down. I called Wayne, cancelled my Cindy lesson and tried to pull the shoe. I couldn't get it. Luckily Wayne swung by on Tuesday evening and pulled it for me. He said there was a huge abscess. So... MAYBE that's all it was.... ???? But for 2 weeks?! I wrapped and packed it and today we put shoes back on. He already seems better so we'll see how he is in the next day or two. Wayne didn't pare down as much toe sole as Dr. Bob wanted. Wayne said he felt like it shut down blood flow and made them stop growing toe. Which... maybe is what we sort of want, to fix those angles? But... he did trim him down a good bit and shortened his toe again. So... we'll see. I really hope that's all it is, but.. I guess we'll give it a few days and see. 

 I so love this guy!

 

So.......

We still don't know what is up with Flecky. I adjusted him and then he was worse and borderline neuro. Well, not even borderline.... flat out neuro really. He was standing funky and was not placing well. Then on the lunge he was dramatically lamer than he has been and clearly unhappy picking up the trot and then even the canter. You could see the right hind catching a good bit. Flexing made it only moderately worse when we flexed just his stifle. 

We x-rayed his feet again and his angles are still very negative even with the 2 degree wedge. So.. the plan is to pare down his sole at the toe to help with the negative angles, add the rocker shoe to the front feet to help with break over, and see what happens there. Prior to Wayne coming on Friday I'm going to bute him and see if that helps. That way I can see if it's pain vs neuro vs biomechanical. Then I'll test him for lymes, just in case. Then... if all else fails... maybe x-ray his neck and/or consider injecting his lumbosacral joint. 

But really, I have no idea. I buted him today and .... well... it's hard to say. He certainly felt pretty good at the beginning. We did an hour long walk hack and he was chomping at the bit, but tripped some. Then we hit the field and trotted and cantered and he seemed perfectly sound. Even Laura Duhamel and Erin Flynn thought so. But then while they were watching to check him, he tripped and faceplanted. He fell to his knees and to his face. I don't know if he tripped or what. The skid marks look like he just slid. There was no holes in the ground or anything. And then he was a bit off in the right hind for a few minutes. He worked out of it and seemed sound again after. SO.....what does that mean? There is a pain component AND a neuro component? Is it chiro neuro and not real neuro?? 

 I have no idea.... and it's frustrating because I want to help him. But he does feel fairly happy and ready to go still.... 

Argh.... 
It was a beautiful day though!

but at least there's this

Sigh.... I'm a horrible mom. So... Fleck doesn't have an abscess I don't think. He wasn't quite right in my dressage lesson. He wasn't overtly lame except for a few steps after the left lead canter. But the right lead canter was awful. And he just felt unhappy. We cut it short. Cindy thought it was maybe left front. 

We headed to Ashland after my dressage lesson to have Wayne look at him. Wayne said he really didn't  think it was an abscess and thought it was left front also. He pulled the left front shoe and dug out a little bit where Fleck was sore on the lateral hoof wall edge. 

But then I rode again today and... no real change. He might have even been worse. He did not want to pick up the right lead at all. And felt just... icky. So we just hacked mostly. I had Liz watch my video from schooling... and she felt that he looked uncomfortable and was basically cheating. He didn't want to say no, so he cheated and found a way to get the job done. 

So... Unless we can find anything glaring and easily fixable, it looks like Sporting Days is out. Sigh.. Guess I'm getting my answer.