Sadly I am unable to write a competition update for you as worryingly Jack has been lame for the last few days meaning we had to withdraw from the combined training competition we had entered last weekend.
He had seem slightly unlevel on Wednesday night while I was out for a hack but it only lasted a few strides when we first started trotting and then disappeared so I assumed he had just stood on a stone or something and didn't give it too much thought. He was fine in the ménage on Thursday so I carried on as normal. My plan Friday was to clip him and then go for a short hack. This is where the problems started! Firstly I put some freshly sharpened blades my clippers only to find they would not cut at all and were still just a blunt as when I had dropped them off. My other blades were also blunt so frustrated I gave up on clipping and tacked up instead. As soon as I got on I felt something was wrong, I walked him across the yard and he just didn't feel right and when I asked him to trot he was reluctant and clearly lame so I jumped off, turned round and took him back into the barn. As there was no one else there to help me trot him up I grabbed a lunge line and headed out onto the flat concrete car park to see him moving on the hard ground, the verdict was lame and it looked like his near fore to me. Next I headed to the ménage to see if there was any difference on a softer surface. He was as bad if not worse in there so we returned to the barn to investigate. I could find no swelling, heat, lumps, obvious injuries and he was not reacting to being poked or prodded. With no idea what was causing the problem I cold hosed his leg and returned him to the field. Not knowing how long he might be out of action I then rang and withdrew from our combined training competition. Gutting when he has been going so well but there will be plenty of other times.
I had hoped for improvement over the weekend with paddock rest but sadly there has been no improvement. He was also very lacklustre and dull not showing much of an interest in anything which is unlike him, he's a chilled chap generally but not this much! In an attempt to prompt some sort of response I put him in the stable in the hope that that would provoke some swelling and help identify or at least locate the issue. Unfortunately there was still no sign and no improvement either.
So getting concerned I booked the vet for Tuesday afternoon, praying for a miracle to happen before they arrived but not holding my breath.
There is another little issue that has been bothering me a bit for the last couple of weeks where Jack seems to be uncomfortable when he goes to the toilet, so thought it would be good to get the vet to check that out too, it's probably nothing but its best to be sure.
So we have gone from being on great form and looking forward to stepping up a level from competing Prelim to Novice to being on complete rest.
The vet visit last night was a frustrating one which didn't reveal anything conclusive, the vet agreed that Jack is lame in his near fore but she also felt he was not right behind. She started trying to find the problem with the front leg first but after much poking and prodding, flexion tests and hoof testers nothing was found other than he was reactive to her squeezing the superficial flexor tendon but in both front legs not just the lame one! She was happy with is back but said his hind end is weak and found him sore over his hips and pelvis. He is usually sore here when our physio sees him too and seems to be an ongoing issue. This is very disappointing as I have worked tirelessly to improve his back end and I felt we were making real progress but she disagreed and I felt very disheartened. I'm not sure what else I can do to build the back end as we already used ground poles whenever we school or lunge, do lots of hacking and grid exercises jumping to strengthen him.
She was not sure if the lameness had cause him to be sore over his pelvis or if him being sore over his pelvis was causing the lameness, or even if the 2 were related at all.
The only good news is that she felt his other problem going to the toilet is most likely due to the pain in his hip/pelvis and should improve if we can get that sorted.
The plan for now is bute and rest for a week he's in the stable at the moment but as he finds this very stressful the vet has said it is ok for him to go out but in a very small stable sized paddock just in case it is a slightly pulled tendon. Will reassess next week and if he is sound in front he will need to see our physio and start gradual work again and see how he goes. Hopefully he responds well and we can then start building him back up.
With some bute in his system he already seemed more his cheeky self this morning pulling all his rugs off the fence while I mucked him out and undoing his rope!
Until next I will be keeping everything crossed for improvement!
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