(Zim being worked on by Jay - while giving me smooches)Wow, I haven't updated in quite some time. I apologize. I honestly felt as though I didn't have much to say.
Zim has been swollen/lame on and off since the last post detailing it. For a while I thought abcess, then I thought tendon, and alternated back and forth between wrapping, cold hosing twice daily (which sucks when you are commuting an hour to the barn one way) and it all didn't really seem to be improving. Finally I gave in and called the vet.
Upon the vets arrival she said "this horse isn't swollen or lame" but we did find a fairly sizeable abcess that split his left hind heel bulb in two. She told me it definitely wasn't a tendon thing and assured me it was just the abcess causing the swelling. In hindsight, I should have asked her more about the small dime sized swelling I noticed on the inside of his leg, but she ran her hands up and down and didn't mention it.
Thank you $175 dollar vet bill to tell me nothing at all.
On the bright side he was a moderately good boy for the vet. Prancy, didn't want to trot out (instead spent his trot outs leaping, rearing, bucking and spooking). But he was well mannered at least.
Cue, more wrapping, more cold hosing, etc.
(He does have a pretty new leather halter and nameplate though)
I gave him the reccomended week and on the day I decided to evaluate him, he wasn't swollen, wasn't lame and I decided to actually lunge him.
A 4 year old OTTB whose been on stall rest getting lunged for the first time is like tying a string to a wasp and hoping it will follow you. We spent a good 5 minutes doing the;
"ZOMG I HAZ THE ZOOMIES"
Canter/Trot spaz, and then he quieted down enough to relax and show me that he does remember how to A) listen and B) trot. I did notice though that on the left lead canter, he kept switching in the back to his right lead and crossfiring that way. I'm not sure if it was a spazzy, green unbalanced thing, or a my left hind hurts when I do this thing. No lameness, but who knows.
We also spent some time working on ground poles and he no longer plants his feet and refuses to go over them. Now he prefers to RUN at them and hop over. *le sigh*. They can never make things easy. I spent a good 10 minutes just standing quietly near the poles, walking around them, standing with two fronts over them, etc, but he still insists he must "jump" them. Least he isn't terrified I suppose.
Amidst all the lameness drama, I had the opportunity to have a friend off an internet forum out to work with Zim. I'm not entirely sure I can accurately explain what Jay does, other than to say it includes some naturopathic medicine/massage/energy type work. While I often don't see much benefit in this, I thought it was worth a shot.
Zim started the session tension, not standing and being a bit of a jerk. By the end, he had dropped his head almost to the ground, was chewing and relaxed and ultimately loved Jay. Jay pointed out quite a bit of imbalance in Zim's muscles, tightness in both his hips and neck, and relieved some of the pressure, while giving me some good exercises to help.
Over the last few weeks I have continued to notice improvement in his flexibility (especially in his neck). During Jay's visit he wouldn't bend his head very far to the side, but as of last night, he will turn his head to the side and touch both sides of his belly, as well as touch his nose to his chest with minimal prompting. I think it will be quite interesting to see how this transitions to his undersaddle work (if we ever get there).
I finally decided last night that I need to call another vet out for a second opinion. If for no other reason that to have one more person tell me that its not a tendon thing. But the back of my mind just keeps telling me that a horse isn't swollen like this and have little lumps on their legs from just an abcess. If I have to ultrasound I will, but I really hope that maybe I am just super paranoid.
There go my hopes of riding in at least one schooling show this fall...
I feel discouraged. I have my $5500 dollar money pit dream horse sitting in a $500 dollar a month stall, paying $300 dollars a month to visit him in gas, and the most I can do is groom him, and play with him in the arena. I know I shouldn't be upset, but quite frankly, the thought of this makes me want to cry. I just want to be taking lessons again. I want to see this horse progress to the level I know he can. Even if he never becomes an eventer, I would love to be able to show him 1st/2nd/maybe even 3rd level dressage...I think athletically he could do it, its just this injury that is holding us back.
I feel cursed. :/
