Re-check

The vet came out again yesterday to check on Shorty's progress. Fantastic news!! He's not perfect, but he has improved VERY WELL for just one month! He turns in small circles like a normal horse now without looking lame or ouchy. She said any neuro signs he has are SO slight that it would be very hard for someone else to pick up on. He is also gaining muscle tone everywhere really nicely.

Her exam revealed that he had stiffness in his neck still and on the right shoulder. The acupuncture exam detected some front feet soreness and hock soreness. She advised not to be too worried about this right now because it is common for horses to have some minor soreness in these areas after just being put back to work. We are good to try some trotting at the end of our work sessions now as well, but I will be sure to only ask for what he can handle. I am still of course wary of any navicular type issues but Shorty seems to be very happy and willing so I will continue asking of him what he is willing to do.

Since I am no longer feeling like I have to rush this along, I am going to try my best to only change one thing at a time. In six weeks when the farrier comes again, we're going to try to ease down the wedge from a 2 degree to 1.5 or 1 degree. She has concerns about keeping him in a wedge for too long, which I have always been concerned about. My farrier is thinking that he might even be okay to try a more conservative approach with regular shoes, wedge, and a more dressage-like trim, but I am going to keep the bar shoes for a while longer until we find if we are better with or without the wedge. The bar shoe could still be offering him needed support, and I would hate to change the wedge height, trim, and the shoe to find that he doesn't do well and then we won't really know which one did it! If he keeps doing so well and improves with no wedge (maybe just keep a flat rim pad), then I would looove to see if he can get a more dressage-like trim and regular shoes! Getting him to function correctly without the wedge seems like the priority right now. He might always benefit from a nice rim pad though, just like some people really need their therapeutic inserts!

Meanwhile, my dog Luke is doing fantastic and our first class is next Monday! When throwing the frisbee last night, he caught 7 out of 10 throws in the air, and one of them he didn't catch because I didn't throw it very well! I have never had a dog that could fetch so well so it makes me happy. I am very much looking forward to taking him to classes.

As my farrier said, between the dog and the horse, "one of you is going to do something!" haha