So Heather believes Amber has a hind end lameness. She thinks hocks or stifles, and being that we injected her hocks once before with no real result, I'm leaning to stifles.
It obviously isn't blazingly apparent. Heather was surprised that she picks up either lead perfect and does auto changes over courses.
The good news is, she says even though it concerns her because Amber is young for stifle/hock issues, she thinks it can be fixed.
I feel kind of guilty for continuing this long. But I'm trying not to do that because I've been going with what I knew, and obviously she hasn't gotten any worse.
But no show tomorrow. Heather gave us bute for Amber 2x a day and she said if Amber improves then it most likely means there is a hind end lameness. She said just give her a call next week and let her know and we will go from there.
She said I should keep riding her though, light walking, so she won't get stiff. In a way I think continuing riding her HAS been what has kept her sound as she is. It's kept her in shape and everything loose.
She will be getting Xrayed unless anything changes. Heather recommended it, and I agree. Last time Kim recommended we not Xray because she said it would still lead up to hock injections. This time, I won't do anything without them, and definitely not injecting her hocks again without them.
Amber is my baby though, and no matter what the outcome, she will stay with me forever. Should she become a trail horse, a pasture puff, or return to being a hunter jumper. Casey seemed pretty disappointed for us. We have worked so hard the past few months and I feel like we've improved tenfold. I still can't believe how easily jumping has started coming. I can only pray we will be able to do it again soon.
A horse I ride and love completely has stifle issue big time! He is lame often and even when he is not lame he still over extends it. He is sound to jump tho most of the time and is a real trooper. He gets rode everyday bc if not he is even worse and sore. We are thinking of giving him the surgery in the future once we get him built up more. Good luck with Amber(:
ReplyDeleteAww. He sounds sweet.
ReplyDeleteAmber started going for the worst every time I would let her have a week off. I only let her do that once since we've been at Goldsboro. So I'm being optimistic and trying to assure myself that riding her is what's kept her from being massively lame as opposed to barely there, couldn't tell if you weren't looking.
Casey and I also discussed when the whole business started. The possibility of it being the big bad bully draft horse at Andrea concerning her and kicking her when nobody could see. She was always terrified of that mare. Maybe she slipped in that god awful trailer of Andreas. I couldn't see, because I wasn't able to follow thanks to locked keys in my car.
It could be a lot of things. I still think that the vet who did her flexion tests at the PPE was wrong. I don't think Casey would have buted her before a PPE.
I'll report later on the results of yesterday's buting.
Wishing you both that Amber improves and it's something completely treatable and short term. She's lucky to have someone who'll be with her no matter what, and that's reason enough not to feel guilty. Until horses learn to speak, we can only try our best and hope we get it right. I'm sure she understands and you'll both continue together in the things you love.
ReplyDelete