September 2014 - January 2015 - Remedial shoes and a holiday!

Since my last post, Not a huge amount has changed. Things are looking more positive but we have also had some draw backs.

Adam has had 4 remedial shoeings and was feeling rather good. It then bucketed it down with rain for weeks and the field became an ice skating rink for him. I believe he slipped in the field and hurt his neck. I was then presented with the possibility of him having arthritis in his neck (I nearly threw up when I was told this) but it looks like he had hurt his brachiocephalic muscle and it was made worse by bracing himself walking to the field and back. Poor sausage was just trying his best to balance but hurt himself in the process.

So those shoes where taken off fairly promptly and replaced with something that would give him more grip.

Then next draw back - got him in from the field and he had a very fat left pastern. His left foot is his worst, so I called the vet. Cold hosed him for a few days (that really helped the mud fever....not) and the vet came to see him on christmas eve.
He scanned and found a hematoma under his collateral ligament. He was given 2 weeks box rest with minimal movement and Danilon to take the edge off. He has been a super star on box rest, although he is a little grumpy and fed up!

After 2 weeks box rest, vet revisited, scanned and re x-rayed both feet. The ligament had only 15% left to heal (Whoooopie!) and his feet are looking much more positive. Unfortunately I do not have the x-rays to put up at this current moment in time, but his Right fore is now on 3% angle, and the left is no longer in the minuses. This is good news, and his heel is starting to look much better.

I have taken photos of his last shoeing, which was 2 days ago and the vet is very happy with his progress and surprised at how much we have achieved since September.

Right fore

left fore

Left fore

I cannot tell you if he is sound, as I have not ridden him for over 2 months. I figured that the more I strained that tendon, the less likely it is to heal. So he's got rather round and has enjoyed his holiday. Our aim for him is to hack comfortably, even if its just in the summer months and manage him carefully through the winter months. He is looking very well (if not a little too well) and has a super shine to his coat. Today I can take him out of his box for the first time in nearly 2 months to allow him to walk in hand. I don't have any worries about this, he's cool as a cucumber.

The weather in Cornwall has been awful, the walk to my field is very muddy and very deep, so him being on box rest probably hasn't been a bad thing after all.

Although I had alot of worries about remedial shoeing, I spoke to alot of people, and did so much research that I thought my brain was going to implode, but I feel that I have done the best thing for him at this moment in time. Barefoot could be an option later on, but right now the vet is feeling very positive.