I could hardly wait to get home from the vet's to relay the good news...
Moon's stifle ultrasound came up clean!!
As in...no injury to joint or tendons. Outside of carrying some excess fluid around the joint...everything looked super clean.
I cannot even begin to tell you all how relieved I am.
The possible negative outcome of the ultrasound has been weighing heavily on my mind this last week.
What the vet does think is going on is that Moon's hocks are starting to fuse...after all, Moon is at that age (14) and that may have something to do with Moon getting so overly ratey going into the barrels. Because Moon's hocks are already well into the fusing process...injections are unnecessary.
What I will have to do is up his Adequan regiment to every 2 weeks, add a glucosamine supplement and start carrying a lot of ice with me to the barrel races. ;-)
I will have to start icing his hocks before the race and after...and after his workouts at home.
The good news is...I can go back to actually putting Moon to work. I have held off of loping him much and kept him off of the pattern except to make a run. The lack of proper work-outs and almost no practice is definitely showing up. We had an 'okay' run on Saturday in Cortez, good enough to pull a check, but I was not exactly happy with the run itself...and then an absolutely horrible run on Sunday, where Moon was throwing me around like a rag-doll again and I couldn't get him drove past the 3rd barrel, so we knocked it.
Well, now that any possible injury/excessive pain issues have been eliminated and I have a treatment plan to minimize the naturally occurring, age related pain...Time to get Moon tuned up.
I am soooo relieved!!!!
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Build Another One
With Moon's future a bit of a question mark....although, I do have a good feeling about a positive outcome...I had to take a look around and think to myself...What do I have that can replace him?
Of course there is always Frosty. I have high hopes for the big, buckskin dummy (JK...I don't really think Frosty is dumb ;-). I know there is a fair amount of speed lurking in that big yellow body...it just seems to be a bit more difficult than I thought it was going to be to get him to embrace it.
Spooks is a non-contender. Bless his goofy heart.
Bugs, the little sorrel horse probably won't be around long enough. He's trucking along and is a good boy, but due to the hay situation, I will have to reduce numbers around here this winter and some of these horses will have to go home to S.D. for the winter. What comes back next spring is always open for debate. I never really know who I'll end up throwing in the trailer. ;-)
Shooter? Welllll...Lets just say life played an evil trick on me. Shooter is not barrel horse potential. He may be Moon's 1/2 brother (same dam), but I got the fastest of the fast and the slowest of the slow in those two. Crazy huh?
Beretta is too young still.
That leaves...
Jet!
Alright big boy...Your ticket has just been punched. Time to start building you into my next competitive horse!
Happy 4th of July!!
Of course there is always Frosty. I have high hopes for the big, buckskin dummy (JK...I don't really think Frosty is dumb ;-). I know there is a fair amount of speed lurking in that big yellow body...it just seems to be a bit more difficult than I thought it was going to be to get him to embrace it.
Spooks is a non-contender. Bless his goofy heart.
Bugs, the little sorrel horse probably won't be around long enough. He's trucking along and is a good boy, but due to the hay situation, I will have to reduce numbers around here this winter and some of these horses will have to go home to S.D. for the winter. What comes back next spring is always open for debate. I never really know who I'll end up throwing in the trailer. ;-)
Shooter? Welllll...Lets just say life played an evil trick on me. Shooter is not barrel horse potential. He may be Moon's 1/2 brother (same dam), but I got the fastest of the fast and the slowest of the slow in those two. Crazy huh?
Beretta is too young still.
That leaves...
When did the ugly duckling turn into a swan?
Jet!
Alright big boy...Your ticket has just been punched. Time to start building you into my next competitive horse!
Happy 4th of July!!
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
The Next Step
Apparently Moon and Spooks have very healthy systems because their darned hooves are growing like crazy. Not that that is a bad thing...but since both are shod, it's definitely decreasing the amount of time between resets. Both horses needed to be reset at 4 weeks, but my farrier was out of town, so they had to wait an extra week. Five weeks and it looked like they hadn't been done in a couple of months. Sheez!
The first thing I made sure to discuss with my farrier was Moon's right front foot...wished I had remembered to take pictures (sorry)...
I was a little concerned because he was practically busting out of his shoe in the rear quarters. There was a good quarter inch spread of hoofwall hanging over the edge of the shoe. This was not happening on the left front.
Now, I trust my farrier...or I wouldn't use him. I'm a really fussy bitch about my horse's feet. I don't give a flying crap about 'pretty' or size. I want them trimmed properly and I want the shoe set under the foot properly. End of story.
There is always the off chance that for whatever reason that a shoe may get set a little 'tight'. So I just wanted to bring the noticeable difference to my farrier's attention and talk with him about it a little, especially since he has an apprentice now that is the one that pulls the shoes and probably would not have seen exactly what the foot is doing before the shoe was pulled. I'm certainly not going to insult my farrier's knowledge or skill, but I am not afraid to remind him that I know a bit about hooves myself. Just because I never learned to nail a shoe on, doesn't mean I don't know what I'm looking at.
Open communication is absolutely paramount with your hoofcare professional. I've said it before and I'll say it again...If you cannot discuss your horse's feet with your farrier...FIND A NEW FARRIER!!!
It was very important for my farrier to see what Moon's right front foot was doing because it has a direct correlation with what is going on with his left stifle. I made sure to tell my farrier that the day before, when I ponied Moon in the desert that I had noticed that he was pushing off of his toe on the left hind. That means that Moon is sore in that stifle. I suspected he would be after running in that extremely deep and sticky ground on Saturday. The fact that Moon's right front foot is growing differently than his left indicates that he is struggling to compensate for that stifle again.
Edited to add...To address the immediate problem of Moon pushing off of his toe, the farrier put shoes with a bit of a trailer on his hinds. That will give him more support in the heel area.
Soooo...the conversation moved on to what is the next logical step to mitigate the stifle problem. I don't have any personal experience with having a horse's joints injected and to be honest...I have purposely steered clear of going that route. I think it has become far to commonplace and there is not always enough investigation done by the vets before automatically recommending joint injections. When my vet recommended hock injections for Moon earlier this year...I flat out told him I was not interested.
I'm still not interested in the hock injections...because I don't think Moon's hocks are the problem. That seems to be the only glitch I have when talking to the professionals...they all want to start with injecting his hocks and I am adamant that the problem is the stifle...either the joint itself or one of the tendons. I don't want to hear about no damn hock injections. I think after the farrier did some feeling around and some stretching/flexing...he is inclined to believe me. ;-)
His recommendation was to have Moon ultrasounded as soon as possible. We have to find out what is the problem...joint or tendon. Moon does not seem to be sore in the joint when it is manipulated...however the fact that the Adequan was so beneficial to him indicates that might be the problem. Moon is sensitive to manipulation of the outer tendon, which could indicate strain or a tear in that tendon or the tendon could just be sore from compensating for the joint. Luckily, the vet I usually use, and who has already seen Moon, is the one who has a fancy new ultrasound machine and my farrier said he is the one he would recommend I take Moon to for a diagnosis.
The vet gets back in the office on Wednesday and I am hoping he can ultrasound Moon this week yet. I was planning on taking him to a 2-day race over the weekend, but now I kinda want to know what is going on before taking him. :-/
It seems that in lou of some sort of injury that would require surgery, the standard 'fix' to a stifle is...
If it's the joint...an injection into the joint itself. That is an immediate fix and apparently does not require any time off. It also sounds like it's a one time and done injection. Unlike the annual hock injections.
If it is a tendon problem...there are a few different things to consider...If the tendon is torn...time off...If the tendon is not torn, but simply stretched...A different injection into the tendon which will cause it to shorten. I believe the method is to inject iodine into the tendon.
From what I understand, neither method is overtly painful and the relief is almost immediate.
Still...moving in this direction is a bit scary for me. It was a big step to simply move to using injectable Adequan...now I am considering actual joint/tendon injections? While it would seem that this all revolves around his ability to compete...it's more than that...I have come to the conclusion that Moon is getting uncomfortable in his daily life. I am unable to turn him out to pasture as often as I would like because it seems affect his stifle and keeping him up for too long makes him crabby and unhappy. To remove any unnecessary pain or discomfort he has to deal with on a daily basis would be my ultimate goal and if that means that he can still continue to compete...well, that is just icing.
The first thing I made sure to discuss with my farrier was Moon's right front foot...wished I had remembered to take pictures (sorry)...
I was a little concerned because he was practically busting out of his shoe in the rear quarters. There was a good quarter inch spread of hoofwall hanging over the edge of the shoe. This was not happening on the left front.
Now, I trust my farrier...or I wouldn't use him. I'm a really fussy bitch about my horse's feet. I don't give a flying crap about 'pretty' or size. I want them trimmed properly and I want the shoe set under the foot properly. End of story.
There is always the off chance that for whatever reason that a shoe may get set a little 'tight'. So I just wanted to bring the noticeable difference to my farrier's attention and talk with him about it a little, especially since he has an apprentice now that is the one that pulls the shoes and probably would not have seen exactly what the foot is doing before the shoe was pulled. I'm certainly not going to insult my farrier's knowledge or skill, but I am not afraid to remind him that I know a bit about hooves myself. Just because I never learned to nail a shoe on, doesn't mean I don't know what I'm looking at.
Open communication is absolutely paramount with your hoofcare professional. I've said it before and I'll say it again...If you cannot discuss your horse's feet with your farrier...FIND A NEW FARRIER!!!
It was very important for my farrier to see what Moon's right front foot was doing because it has a direct correlation with what is going on with his left stifle. I made sure to tell my farrier that the day before, when I ponied Moon in the desert that I had noticed that he was pushing off of his toe on the left hind. That means that Moon is sore in that stifle. I suspected he would be after running in that extremely deep and sticky ground on Saturday. The fact that Moon's right front foot is growing differently than his left indicates that he is struggling to compensate for that stifle again.
Edited to add...To address the immediate problem of Moon pushing off of his toe, the farrier put shoes with a bit of a trailer on his hinds. That will give him more support in the heel area.
Soooo...the conversation moved on to what is the next logical step to mitigate the stifle problem. I don't have any personal experience with having a horse's joints injected and to be honest...I have purposely steered clear of going that route. I think it has become far to commonplace and there is not always enough investigation done by the vets before automatically recommending joint injections. When my vet recommended hock injections for Moon earlier this year...I flat out told him I was not interested.
I'm still not interested in the hock injections...because I don't think Moon's hocks are the problem. That seems to be the only glitch I have when talking to the professionals...they all want to start with injecting his hocks and I am adamant that the problem is the stifle...either the joint itself or one of the tendons. I don't want to hear about no damn hock injections. I think after the farrier did some feeling around and some stretching/flexing...he is inclined to believe me. ;-)
His recommendation was to have Moon ultrasounded as soon as possible. We have to find out what is the problem...joint or tendon. Moon does not seem to be sore in the joint when it is manipulated...however the fact that the Adequan was so beneficial to him indicates that might be the problem. Moon is sensitive to manipulation of the outer tendon, which could indicate strain or a tear in that tendon or the tendon could just be sore from compensating for the joint. Luckily, the vet I usually use, and who has already seen Moon, is the one who has a fancy new ultrasound machine and my farrier said he is the one he would recommend I take Moon to for a diagnosis.
The vet gets back in the office on Wednesday and I am hoping he can ultrasound Moon this week yet. I was planning on taking him to a 2-day race over the weekend, but now I kinda want to know what is going on before taking him. :-/
It seems that in lou of some sort of injury that would require surgery, the standard 'fix' to a stifle is...
If it's the joint...an injection into the joint itself. That is an immediate fix and apparently does not require any time off. It also sounds like it's a one time and done injection. Unlike the annual hock injections.
If it is a tendon problem...there are a few different things to consider...If the tendon is torn...time off...If the tendon is not torn, but simply stretched...A different injection into the tendon which will cause it to shorten. I believe the method is to inject iodine into the tendon.
From what I understand, neither method is overtly painful and the relief is almost immediate.
Still...moving in this direction is a bit scary for me. It was a big step to simply move to using injectable Adequan...now I am considering actual joint/tendon injections? While it would seem that this all revolves around his ability to compete...it's more than that...I have come to the conclusion that Moon is getting uncomfortable in his daily life. I am unable to turn him out to pasture as often as I would like because it seems affect his stifle and keeping him up for too long makes him crabby and unhappy. To remove any unnecessary pain or discomfort he has to deal with on a daily basis would be my ultimate goal and if that means that he can still continue to compete...well, that is just icing.
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