Post Injections

We injected both top and bottom joints on both hocks on the 6th of June. He got four days of hand walking and bute, then moved slowly back into work. I made the decision, based on how he was moving (and the suggestion from Saiph), to go to Previcox daily to help with inflammation until the left hock has fused. He has been moving better and better each ride.

Sunday we were in the outdoor and I talked Flambe into taking video:

The aid is now as slight as relaxing my outside leg and shifting my weight slightly. I do need to get him straighter going from right to left, so he doesn't feel the need to throw his body around as much to get the bend.

Images

Marvel

I love this truck and I love that I added the Marvel logo to her hood.

 

 And to the tailgate for good measure.

If you haven't seen Captain Marvel, you should.

Marvel is cutting edge on strong female characters.

 The front range view from the barn.

Magical doesn't begin to cover it.

 

Barn family supporting Gail and Squish in accomplishing their qualifying scores for RMDS Championships.

 Handwalking and searching for fresh alfalfa

 He does look pretty in red, even though it is not my favorite.

 Last ride before the injections

A bit of grass after every ride

Lily crashed on my bed.

Issues

To answer Lytha's question, Ashke has been lame for the past three weeks or so, with the lameness getting more pronounced as we went along. Two weeks ago, I scheduled Dr Scott to come out and do injections again. Granted it has only been four months, however, he is really favoring his left hind (which is the opposite leg from where almost all of our issues have stemmed from). Doc came out last Thursday and did an evaluation of his gait and was amazed that it was definitely his left hock.

 

Dopey horse is dopey.

The good news is that the right hock seems to have fused (which explains why he is suddenly favoring the left) and we will need to do x-rays next time before we do more injections. Doc did both the upper and lower joints in both and Ashke has had the weekend off, with handwalking and Bute.

 Not wanting to weight the left hind. This tendency is why the left hind hoof looks different from the other three. He has been favoring it for at least six weeks.

I washed him off before the injections (he was a mud colored brown) and got his hocks pretty clean. Doc scrubbed with betadyne and alcohol for a significant length of time prior to injections.

Beginning to wake up. He was not happy he wasn't being fed with the rest of the horses.

I think this week I will talk to Amanda about flying vs simple changes when it comes to the hocks. It may be that I will need to show L4 for the rest of this year to take some of the pressure off that hock until it is closer to being fused. We will see what happens.

Hope

The Skittle Bug on a mission to run on fresh grass.

The Lily Bear always on alert.

Here he is in the flesh. We are dealing with some issues, mostly in his left hock, so injections are scheduled for Thursday.

From the side. His back is so strong and his shoulder is amazing. Too bad it doesn't show well in this photo.

Ashke was not as amused as I was at the conversation between me and a friend.

I am slowly but surely moving forward and hope to be back to this space on a regular basis. I am taking it one day at a time and can see an end to the process that I am going through, although there is still a lot to do between where I am and where I am going to end up. Tristan and his gf are doing great, Ashke has some issues but we are addressing, Lily and Skittle are happy dogs. I am surviving.