It's been a pretty quiet few weeks with Jack, he first went lame nearly 3 weeks ago, he had the week off on bute as prescribed by the vet and seemed to be feeling better. After the bute finished I discussed with the vet and due to being on my own decided to lunge him gently in the ménage to assess whether the lameness was gone. I lunged him quietly in walk and trot and was very pleased to see that he appeared to be sound so after a further discussion with the vet was given the go ahead to slowly bring him back into work. I was to ride him in walk only in the ménage to start with and build up gradually over a week to 10 days if all was going well and any problems to let them know. Feeling excited about getting back on board I brought him in on Tuesday popped his magnetic back pad on and left him in for the day so he was ready to ride that night. Later that day I got to the yard a bit later than usual and found Jack unusually unsettled, its not like him to be jumpy and agitated but there was something definitely up with him. I got on with mucking out and grooming him and by the time I'd finished he seemed to have relax a bit. Before I got on board I did all the usual stretches I do with him before every ride - carrot stretches 2 each side, between his knees and to his chest, pelvis tilts and tail pulls then tacked up and he seemed to be back to normal. I was planning to get straight on and just do 20minutes in walk in a long and low outline and some lateral steps. As soon as I took him in the ménage he was very alert and on his toes. I always do some tight turns each way and back him up a few steps before I get on and he was rushing and over reacting to everything I was asking him to do. He was also wide eyed and snorting at something across the dark fields! I took him to the mounting block but he wouldn't stand still and I could tell getting on would not be a clever move. I considered if I should just turn him out and forget trying to ride but decided not as he was clearly in a mood and was likely to go charging around the field and do himself harm again if I did. Instead I grabbed a lunge line. This too was a bad move. He still went nuts belting round the circle, bucking, kicking, leaping and generally pratting about! This is really not like him. By the time he settled down for me to be able to assess how he was moving he was lame again. I have no way of knowing if he was lame before that or if it was the loony antics on the lunge that caused him to go lame again, either way I felt incredibly frustrated. I've no idea what caused him to behave like that but something had really got him wound up. I turned him out and decided to give him another day off and reassess again Thursday. When I went to check on him the next day there were fireworks going off and he was clearly bothered by them so maybe there had been some before I go there the previous day and thats what had upset him, I guess we will never know! I lunged him in tack Thursday and hallelujah he seemed sound again so I popped on board for 10 minutes just in walk and all was good. I felt happy that we could get on a gently bring him back into full work but not wanting to push him to hard too soon I gave him Friday off again. Saturday I lunged him again and he looked really good I even gave him a little canter and he was moving well. I also walked him over some ground poles as this is a good indication if his pelvis is tight but he was fine doing these. Again not wanting to push him to hard I gave him Sunday off and then took him for a little hack on Monday and he felt good I only did 20minutes in walk but he felt forward and happy and was swinging through his back. So full of hope I took my clippers with me to the yard yesterday to give him a clip as he is still in his full Winter woollies and the last thing I wanted to do was work him and get him sweaty and then turn him out and risk him getting a chill. I gave him a quick belly and neck clip as he is still living out and so I didn't want to take too much off then I tacked up ready to school. As soon as I took him into the school I could tell he wasn't right, when I turned him to the left he seemed very lame and wasn't much better to the right. There were a couple of guys from the farm still there so I grabbed one of them and asked him to trot Jack up for me already knowing he was going to be lame. Poor Jack was really bad, worse than when the vet saw him 2 weeks ago which is pretty worrying. One of the other liveries arrived and had a farrier coming so I asked him to take a quick look but he didn't find anything. She mentioned that Jack and his 2 field companions had been galloping about the field earlier in the day so it is possible he has done himself an injury then but like before there seems to be no sign to indicate what he's actually done. Another call to the vet and they are booked to come back tomorrow and have another look at him. I'm feeling pretty stressed about the whole thing. The vet is talking of scanning the tendons and I'm thinking of selling a kidney!!
Will update tomorrow/Friday after the vet has been, please send us positive healing vibes until then.
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