Riding the Spiral

 When we last left off Cinder had just gotten a much needed chiro adjustment and we were hopeful that would fix her slightly unevenness. Unfortunately, it didn't. She still felt off, and after a few days of easy work was actually lame. Assistant Trainer M was teaching lessons that day, and videoed us to send to both Trainer M and Doc. Both AT M and I thought it was in the front, possibly left front. And at least Cin picked a good time to be lame, as we had four days of 100+ temps during this lameness spell so I wasn't like I was missing out on much riding time. 

Might have spiraled a bit and briefly thought about pulling Peebs out of retirement. I'm sure you can tell by his ears how enthused he was about this idea

I had been having visions of torn tendons and ligaments during the week between her coming up actually lame and the vet visit, despite no heat or swelling in any limbs. I was making plans of how I could scrounge up money/ a horse to use for medal finals at the end of August, and if I could afford to move Cin home to rehab since a stall at Peebs barn is opening up next month and then part lease something at Trainer M's. As mentioned above, I thought about seeing how sound Peebs was and if he could come back into work. I did hop on him for the first time in over a year and we took two steps from the mounting block before he stopped, put his head up, and let me know that was as much work as he was wiling to do.  

He is down for showers on hot summer days tho

Doc put us on the list for a lameness exam last Wednesday, which is her normal day to come out to the barn. I wasn't going to be able to make the appointment as we had an accreditation inspection at work Wed-Fri last week, but Doc ended up having two different emergencies to go to so Cinder got bumped to Saturday which I was able to be there for. 

As soon as the lameness exam started, Doc clocked the issue as being in the hind not the front, and more in the right hind. We flexed the fronts just to be thorough, but nothing popped up. Cin's hocks were slightly positive to flexion, but the stifles were the real culprits. Cin does have a small bone spur in her left stifle, and we injected both about a year and a half ago, so it wasn't surprising that it's time to inject them again. Doc prefers PRP, so Cinder will be getting injected this week with that in both stifles. Doc is hopeful that we can get her sound and fit enough for medal finals, so fingers crossed the PRP does the job. 

Bye bye Money

 After the show, Cinder had a pretty easy week. She had Monday off, a light lunge in the Equibands on Tuesday, and for my lesson on Wednesday we went on a trail ride. I did opt for a free lunge before our trail ride, as she humped her back, squealed, and trotted off as soon as I got on. I do appreciate the fact that Cin let's us know pretty quick when she's feeling fresh. 

They've been working on the electrical at the barn and the hot wire wasn't hot for a few days. A certain chestnut mare figured it out, and proceeded to let her and her pasture buddies into the drainage ditch to get the good grass. She got to wear a grazing muzzle for a week till the fence was hot again.

After running around like a lunatic, and falling down once, Cinder was perfect for our trail ride. She was content to walk on a loose rein and only had one mini meltdown on having to walk through some deeper mud. 

 Friday of that week, the vet was out and we opted to inject Cinder. She had said to the animal communicator that her hocks were sore, but x-rays showed that the stifles were worse and probably causing compensation in the hocks. I decided to do both hocks and stifles at once, and hopefully knock everything out of the way in one go. Per my vet's recommendation, we injected with RenoVo, a biologic. Trainer A has seen great results with it in her horse, and I liked the fact that it's not a steroid. 

post injection hand grazing and lesson watching

Cinder then got three days off with turnout, and three days of light riding. Trainer A rode her last Tuesday and then on Wednesday we had the saddle fitter out. Thankfully my saddle still fits and we decided to add a breastplate to help the slipping issue. Part of the slipping issue is just Cinder's build, and the new sheepskin girth I got doesn't help. Adding a breastplate fixed our issue, and I'd much rather pay for that than repaneling my saddle, or having to get a new one. 

VBIPA

Do you, or someone you love, own or lease horses and pay vet bills? Have you, or someone you love, ever experienced nausea, sweating, dizziness, guilt, and/or anxiety when seeing your vet bill? If so, then you might be suffering from VBIPA or vet bill induced panic attack. Treatment can include drinking copious amounts of alcohol, eating ice cream for dinner, and/or calling your mother to talk you down from the panic attack.

I decided to have the vet out to check Peebs over on Friday.  He was still feeling a bit stiff, but wasn't actually lame. I was wondering if his naughtiness when jumping was more than naughtiness and wanted him checked out before show season started.  We did a lameness exam and Peebs was sore in his lower back, sore in both hocks, and very sore in both stifles. He also had the occasional funny step on his left front.

Dr. W and I talked it over, and decided that since his stifles were worse we'd start with injecting those. Dr. W felt that Peebs' sore back could be from the stifles, but we'll have to wait and see.  And the injections could help with his front end issue, or make them worse. Yay!

The bill ended up being about double what I was expecting. I honestly thought we'd maybe start him on Adequan or pentosan, maybe think about doing his hocks. The stifle injections are $350 more than the hocks, and Peebs need extra sedation. $$$$$$. I guess I'm luck though, I haven't had this big of a vet bill in 9 years, since we were diagnosing Phoenix's ring bone. And it's still nowhere near the vet bill from my first horse's colic surgery when I was 15.  My mom kept that one and gave it to me when I moved into my own place and it's still up on my fridge.

Peebs is on hand walking/turnout till Wednesday, then walk trot work till Saturday.  I tentatively have a lesson scheduled for Sunday but we'll see how things go.  I'm having Dr. W come back next month for spring shots so we might do another lameness exam and see where things stand.