We have improvement. On Friday and Saturday we had a fair bit of rain so the ground is nice and soft at the moment. Sunday morning I put him on the lunge but the ground was too slippery to get a good idea. I trotted him out on the road and he seemed improved. By the afternoon the ground had dried out a fair bit so I lunged him over in the reserve in the arena I have created over there. He had a lovely time kicking up his heels and trotted out nicely both directions. I trotted him on the road again and there was still a small amount of lameness to the right.
Monday night I rode him. He was full of beans but went well. I was even able to ride a 15m circle on the soft ground. Tuesday I think he must have woken up on the wrong side of the stable as he was extremely grumpy so I didn't ride. This afternoon we went for a long 40min walk where he strided out well the whole time. He was feeling very fresh, tried to break into a trot a few times but came to a walk without too much fuss. We did two 10minute sessions in the arena with a 3 minute walk break in between. He worked well, very forward but seemed sound.
Townsville Vets have already destroyed Sam's x-rays. They only need to keep them for two years they tell me. I spoke to Brad Dowling the vet who worked with Sam a lot while we were up there and our conversation went a lot like this:
Me: Hi Brad, we are having a few lameness issues with Sam and having a little difficulty in pin pointing exactly where it is.
Vet: So the Pedal Ostitis is finally showing
Me: Oh, they were throwing that around but not to sure.
Vet: I am surprised you have gotten this long out of him
Me: Any suggestions on how to treat it
Vet: Not a lot you can do, he is only going to give you a lot of heart ache being lame on and off.
Me: Thanks Brad
I spoke to Hadley my vet here and relayed what was said. She seems to think his pasterns are playing a part as well and would like to do some more tests. Because I will now have to float Sam into town to be shod (the new farrier refuses to travel out to me) they will test him then. I am to keep him in work and monitor how he goes. In about 4 weeks I will take him in and see how we go. From there we can work out a pain management plan. If the pasterns are playing a part she thinks she can help with this with some injections. I guess we will have to wait and see.
3 comments:
Yikes, sounds serious. Hope you can get some answers. Poor Sam.
How frustrating! I hope that between the vet and the farrier that they are able to pinpoint what the best course of action is to make Sam comfortable. Fingers are crossed!
Wow, what a compassionate vet. I hope that you get some answers soon!
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