Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Vetted

Hahaha-I go so excited about posting the positive conclusion to this clinic, that I skipped the post I wrote about how Moon worked on the barrel pattern on Day One of the clinic. If you are so inclined, scroll down to the post called The Pattern. It was a whole lot different than the 2nd day. LOL

This trip back to Colorado was multi-functioned. I have been trying to get back here for like a month now. First I lost a tire and rim and had hell getting the right replacement rim for my trailer, then the weather got crappy in Colorado and I had no intention of coming back until after the Dick Pieper clinic and right up until Thursday, the Ronny Clampitt clinic was booked full. At the last minute someone had to cancel, so I jumped on coming home a couple days early. 

Frenchy is getting along in her pregnancy and I don't like hauling a mare that is too close to foaling. I mean, she isn't due until the first week of June, but there is a lot invested into Mz. Thang already...Financially and emotionally. I am not taking any chances with her or that CS Flashlight baby she is baking for me. :-). So getting her home and settled into the pasture well before her due date was imperative.

I also needed to get horses into the vet. Moon and Jet got their injections updated. Moon's right hock is still not fused. Darn!! Basically, the vet said that all he absolutely needed was the right hock and the left stifle done, but you know...It doesn't really make sense to not keep things evened out on him, so we did both sides, in both areas. I hope that hock fuses this time. :-/. That may eliminate the need for ANY injections in him because the vet thinks the reason Moon is over-using his left stifle is due to compensation. (sigh)...It's always a diagonal thing with horses.

Doc said that Jet's hocks are fusing. Yay!! The horse is only 9, but as 'off' as his hocks are, the quicker they fuse, the better. This may be the last round of stifle injections the horse will need for awhile. He's traveling so much better now and may actually be getting strong enough over the topline and developing an even enough musculature that he won't need re-injected until much farther into his training...if that. I need to focus on bringing Jet's training on. I have someone who is interested in him as a hunter/jumper/english prospect and she seems like she would be a good fit for the horse. She saw him over the weekend and thought he was 'just lovely'.

Frosty checked out as I expected...Dry hock joints. Doc didn't even have to flex test him. He took one look at his hocks and pointed out the beginnings of lumps and bumps, particularly on the inside of his right hind. I can see them clearly when he points them out, but obviously I don't have his experienced eye. I just knew the horse didn't feel right and was getting sore. Doc said they aren't starting to fuse yet, but are dry enough to cause him some discomfort. We didn't go any farther with him than that this time around, although the vet was inclined to think that Frosty's tendency to want to buck coming out of the barrel is a stifle thing. He felt and moved Frosty's stifles though and didn't feel any fluid on the stifle or hesitancy in their range of motion, so it could be that IF he is experiencing some stifle soreness it might be due to compensation for sore hocks. Doc said to try putting him on a joint supplement, since he handled the loading dose of the I.M. glucosamine well and see how he does over the next month. It will take 2 weeks for the injections to fully set in and then I can ask him to run again. If after a month and he is still not wanting to power out of the turns without bucking...we may have to delve a little deeper. I sure hope that it isn't his hips that are the problem, but Doc reassured me that too can be remedied through alternative means. He was telling me of an I.V. concoction of glucosamine and HA that is available now and if the hock injections aren't the ticket, we may go that route. I sure want this big yellow horse to be able to run. I just love, love, love the way he feels on the pattern. He's definitely my kind of horse and his turns are just so fluid and easy to ride.

I trotted out my list of questions to the vet...all of the stuff I had been saving up to ask him. ;-). One of those things was about Moon's breathing. With it getting hot in AZ, I can tell that it is already affecting Moon a little bit and was wondering if there was anything I could give him that was NOT steroidal in nature. Moon's immune system is not strong...which is common in respiratory-challenged horses, and steroids weaken the immune system more. So that kind of stuff is completely out for Moon. The vet suggested Ventipulmin Syrup. It's made from clenbuterol HCl, which is what is in inhalers used by asthmatics. We was talking about any potential side affects...such as making a horse H.O.T., which some bronchial dialators can do and he was telling me that when his wife gives it to her horse, he actually gets calmer.

Blink!! Blink, blink!!!

Ooohhhhh....

It's possible that some of Moon's gate anxieties are coming from his breathing...or inability to breath sufficiently. That very well might be why the gate issue thing is intermittent. When the weather is right and Moon can air up properly, those might be the days when he is totally fine at the gate and the days when he wants to lose his mind might be due to the fact that he cannot air up and gets to feeling a little panicky beforehand. Generally I can judge how well he is getting his air by how he coughs during warm-up. When his coughs are dry and tight...He's not getting enough air. When they sound wet and mucusy...As odd as it sounds...That's a good thing. There is no curing Moon's cough, so if he's not coughing at all...That is not good. The Oxy-Boost has helped him a lot over these last couple of years, but after a few days, he also gets higher than a kite...so I'm always trying gauge his coughs to determine how many days in advance I should start giving Moon the Oxy-Boost, without amping him up. I've gotten pretty good at it, but sometimes it's still hit or miss. This way, I can give Moon the Oxy-Boost just two days in advance, which helps open him up and then 4-5 hours before I run him I can give him 5cc's of the Ventipulmin Syrup, which will completely open his airways...and he won't get hot(ter) on me. This could make a huge difference for my Main Man. I sure hope so.

Now, it's back to AZ for a few more weeks and a few more rodeos. I'm really excited to work on Moon and see how Frosty comes around. 

5 comments:

Ms Martyr said...

I have heard that an asthma attack causes extreme anxiety. I bet you're on the right track in thinking Moon's breathing may be behind his gate problems.
Hope the new syrup makes a difference.

Shirley said...

So... are you living full time in Arizona, with just side trips to Colorado and the home ranch?
I know how it is to get panicky about not being able to breath, just went through that last weekend.

Sherry Sikstrom said...

I have had really good results with using Ventipulmin hope it works for Moon

BrownEyed Cowgirl said...

Just in AZ through the winter Shirley. I'll be heading back to Colorado in mid-May. I'm fairly late in leaving as far as snow-birds go, the horse people really cleared out around the first week in April. But there is very little going on at home (Colorado) right now, so might as well stay down here and keep working on getting tuned up. :-)

Cut-N-Jump said...

The breathing thing makes sense. It would be stressful for any of US not to be able to breathe, why not for the horses too? Hope this works and helps smooth things out for you guys.

Sounds like you are making some leaps and bounds in getting everything sorted out and Moons should be back to firing strong sooner rather than later. Way cool!