Cheater cheater pumpkin eater!

So... we couldn't resist!! I know I said I was going to wait til after I got back from Rolex and Kansas, but..... it was so beautiful out and I MISS HIM!!

We kept it to a walk... we kept it to 30 minutes.... We tried to be good. Well, I tried to be good. Fleck was a bit of a pill at first. I think he was looking for Dan because he was jiggy and fussy and prancy. We may have trotted a bit. But he did eventually settle down. 

Man did it feel good to be back on him! Like home.

 

 He didn't seem any worse off afterwards :) I'm hoping we can get back to work in May!

i miss my friend

I miss hanging out with my buddy. Work has kept me from spending time with him, even just hanging out. Sigh.... He's so handsome!

Optimistic Again!!!

So.... Mr Fleck was still wonky and unhappy. And getting pissy about being off. So... I took him up to Dr. Browns to see if he had any idea as to what was going on. And honestly, I was expecting to inject his LS because my gut was that it was higher up and that's what was making him border neuro. Well... my gut was wrong. In some ways I guess. But not in others, so props to me. ;) 

Dr. Brown zeroed in on his left hind and palpated his medial collateral hock ligament. Fleck was painful there. So we ultrasounded it and... no tear or anything, but a very unhappy inflamed tendon. He said that it was the problem. Rest and laser. Sigh.. I did some research and unfortunately bad issues tend to be career limiting. However, mild sprains/strains can be fine after 6-8 weeks of stall rest. Ugh... Dr. Brown told me rest and laser and no riding. I just can't do stall rest. Fleck would go bonkers, my barns not done, I would go bonkers... So I decided time off with turn out and lasering daily. So... we have. 

Well then I was adjusting a horse at Ashland and ran into Freddie Garcia, another farrier. I was still wondering if Fleck's negative plantar angles were contributing to his neuro signs and troubles. He still seemed like he was mechanically stuck at times. And I figured it might have aggravated the hock ligaments too. (Although now... I'm sure that jumping him at the Vista that day was probably what did him in... shame on me). So I asked Freddie and he went into a long discussion about how awful that is for them and when I asked how he would fix it, he basically said what Dr. Bob wanted to do. So... I went ahead and made an appointment with him. I feel awful about Wayne... he was doing a great job. I just... really wanted to make sure we ruled out biomechanical before we went to fenestrating Fleck's stifles and such. And Fleck is just struggling so much... I want to fix him and I want to fix him now! Luckily Freddie agreed to come shoe my horse. 

So... we got him shod yesterday. Freddie is pretty amazing to talk to. He watched Fleck walk and he agreed with Dr. Brown that it's in the left more than the right. He seemed to think it was biomechanical and we pulled his shoes and he took off some flare on the lateral wall and tweaked some stuff and Fleck was already walking better. Even without his wedges. He took about an inch of toe off and put the wedges back on. Fleck looks better already! Ther doesn't seem to be that little catch and he's not hesitating. It's just a smooth motion. YAY!! Freddie felt like we could even get him out of the wedges in a few shoeing cycles. Then we did his fronts and he adjusted those slightly. Fleck looked better already.

I had him do Dan too and while the difference wasn't quite as dramatic, it did look different and better. It's fun because the more biomechanics I learn, the more intriguing it is. 

Then this morning... Fleck was a pistol!!! Granted, I was later than usual feeding and it's chillier than usual, but Fleck was going after Dan and Roany and bucking and backing up and all sorts of nonsense. He even slipped in the mud and fell on his butt. Poor guy. He played it off well ;) So after I fed, I checked his ligament with the sticks.... it BARELY moved!!! When two days ago it was swinging around. :) :) 

I'm really optimistic that this will get Fleck back on track again. Luckily I'm out of town for a week so I can't ride him. I'm going to try VERY hard to still give him those 6-8 weeks off, but I can't promise it. If he feels good and the sticks don't move.. it's going to be very hard not to get back on him and just trail ride. :) 

YAY!!!!
Look at the changes...

Left Hind
2015

 

Left Hind 2016 Before Shoeing Changes

Left Hind 2016 After Shoeing Changes

Right Hind 2015

Right Hind 2016

Right Hind After Shoeing Changes 2016

 

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.