So.... Fleck's had a week off. It's been tough not riding him. Even though I don't really have time. And it's literally in the mid to upper 90's this week with the heat index in the mid 100's to 110. So it was good timing I guess. ;)
But I just want him to feel better. I'm panicking and trying to stop myself from scheduling 8 different vets to look at him, submitting blood and CSF for EPM evaluation, calling every equine pyschic/communicator, and just... doing whatever it takes to get him better.
Today Kathryn came though. And she was super helpful. She feels that most of the problems is stemming from his chest. He feels stuck in his ribs and back and he can't float. His forelegs are jammed and his hinglegs are jammed and the ribs/chest are stuck in the middle and jammed. She thinks that while it was always there, perhaps fixing the negative angles in the hind feet combined with the wedges is too much for him. And that he needs a bit shorter breakover in front again as he's back at the knee conformationally. Btu she got some really good releases and interestingly enough, he suddenly has shark fin withers! His back, just behind his withers and the withers itself, have never been that open. So..... maybe this will help.
She doesn't think it's neurologic, or even really pain, so much as just him getting jammed up. Her recommendation was to pull the wedges off in the hinds and to re x-ray his feet and adjust any angles. She almost wonders if Freddie did such a good job fixing the negative angles that he doesn't need the wedges anymore. And since Fleck had gone around like that so long, the drastic change has just gotten him stuck.
So for now at least, she has calmed me down from taking aggressive action. ;) I'll see if I can get him x-rayed again the next time I go to Dr. Browns. I'll see if Freddie will take the wedges off behind in 3 weeks when he comes again and see if he'll agree to shorten his toe a bit.
And in the meantime, I'll just let Fleck be and take him for occasional hacks. He can walk the whole way if he wants. If he wants to trot, we can trot. If all we do is splash in the lake.. that's fine and dandy. I just miss him.
Today I was scheduled to work with Dr. Brown so I asked him if I could bring Fleck. Fleck loved it!! He got to enjoy his big beautiful front pasture. It was so pretty I wish I had taken pictures.
Anyways... Dr. Brown looked at him and thinks it's still trochanteric bursitis. Only worse than a month ago. He was much more reactive and sore and when we ultrasounded him, his muscles surrounding the area look inflamed and unhappy. He was worried that it may always bother him, like his does with him. He said to put him on bute for a week to help resolve inflammation, rest him, and laser the crap out of him. Once he seemed to not be sore, then I could bring him back and see how he does. We could try blistering the area (almond oil) and see if that helps. Or inject again. But... it doesn't sound good.
Sigh.... It hasn't quite sunk in yet.... I just want my ol' man happy and comfy. And I still want him sound enough to be able to take him hacking and beach riding. :( :(
When we got home I let him graze for a bit while I got dinner ready. Unfortunately Danny and Roany were wild and went running off when I let them out of the pasture. Fleck joined in but as he came up the hill he looked even more lame. What/!?! Maybe we stressed him and made him sore. But then he looked almost 3 legged lame. He came into the barn and was super lame even at the walk. ACKKK!!! I panicked... thought he had broken a leg... blown a tendon.... tore his muscles again.... He pawed his front foot like he does when he hurts badly. But I couldn't find anything. He took a few more steps and seemed okay, then lame again, then okay again. I finished getting dinner ready and fed him and the others and then went back in to see if I could figure out what happened. I noticed he had a little bit of blood on the foot he was waving in the air at me. Sure enough, the little crack in his heel that I thought was new but was dry when I first looked, now looked a little damp. And he had some blood specks at the heel bulb. It looked like he was either caught up in prickers and punctured/scraped the heel bulb, or like he had stepped on some debris (which could have been anything in our pasture.. it just comes up out of the ground randomly!). After he ate, I hosed him off and checked him closer. He wasn't sore anymore and was walking as sound as he had been prior and there was nothing more than a few scrapes and teeny punctures.
Good grief!! My little heart can't handle this.
Oh, on our way home we had to stop and laser ponies. Gina got these pictures while Fleck was waiting on me. :) He's so freakin' cute!
We've been having ridiculous temps lately! Heat index of 110.... insane humidity... temps of 100 even. It's been awful. However, this morning was LOVELY! I got up early and we got in a ride before meeting Dr. Febles for dentals.
I knew I had to be quick so that I could get them both ridden before meeting her at the gray barn to get their teeth done. So I hopped on Fleck bareback and we went for a little hack.
Yesterday Freddie came to do feet. I had told him that Fleck felt awful so he watched him go. As we were walking down the hill, Fleck did that funky thing with his hind end and Freddie saw it. He also noticed that he seemed wonky and super heavy in the front end. He agreed that he looks a little neuro and also said that he did NOT look like that 2 shoe cycles ago. Sigh.... But his toes were awfully long and Freddie adjusted his shoes a little bit to give him a bit more support in the hind end.
So anyways... our morning ride was quite nice. The weather was lovely. And Fleck actually felt pretty darn good. We walked the trails and then trotted a little bit. He actually felt pretty good so I ended up doing a 10 minute trot. I'm still torn as to whether I should keep trying to get him fit and see if it helps vs giving him time off because he still feels so awful. So I did both/neither. Sigh. But he felt pretty good this morning. He wasn't tripping and downhill didn't feel so bad. He still felt pretty darn heavy in the front. Nicky ended up being out there towards the end and she watched him go and said she didn't really see anything. So.. yay!
Then we went and got his teeth done. They were in pretty good shape. :) I talked to Dr. Febles and she scanned him (acupuncture wise) and was a little worried about his liver and also based on what I said and what she found on the scan, agreed it could be EPM. Well, Equine Neurologic Syndrome. She suggested though that I pull him off previcox if I could, and start him on Liver Happy. She was a little worried about his liver. And thought that perhaps if we could get his liver happy, he could fight off the neuro disease on his own.
So I still have no official idea. But I did pull him off the previcox, and had switched him to every other day recently anyways as I didn't really know if it was helping. And ordered liver happy. And then she gave me some acupuncture points to try. So we did that. Fleck does NOT like BL 18 being injected, even with B12, but I got it done.
Oh, I love him so. I just want him to feel better.
Sigh... now he almost feels neuro. He just feels awful. But he keeps trucking along...
Our next ride was better though... We enjoyed ourselves.
So.... we got in our rides until Kansas. Fleck is still pretty lame. Not as crippled lame like he was, but still pretty lame. Sigh...
Then he got 5 days off when I went to Kansas. I got back on Monday morning and rode in the front field. He was actually pretty good and felt much more sound. I didn't get a cramp posting. :) And he wasn't tripping and losing his stifle until towards the end and that was only after I commented on how he wasn't even tripping. Oops.
Tuesday I rode at High Point in the arena and he actually felt pretty darn sound. We did 10 minutes each direction. I even worked on leg yielding, shoulder ins, haunches in, and did some direction changes. At about the 9th minute I started to feel some hesitations, but it wasn't until then. Even Peri said he looked pretty sound until then. So... maybe it is a fitness thing...
And then today... we snuck in a quick ride at Ashland. I decided we really didn't want to do more circles in the front field again. Even though that front field is more fun than my front field. But still... I wanted to hit the trails. So we did. We trotted for about 25 minutes but had to walk in certain spots. He felt fairly good on the trails but then... I started to notice some hesitations. As I finished our ride we saw Judy and I had her watch, him. I don't know if it was the footing, the tighter turns, or the lack of him being put together or what, but he felt worse. So she offered to take video. So I did. He looks better than he feels but you can see it. So... sigh....
But we had a most enjoyable evening out on the trail together, enjoying each others company. :) I do love him... even if that's all we get to do from now on.
