I say this because Shorty has been off on the RF since mid-February. He's been out of work and almost getting worse as he sits. He's been lame at the trot and for a while was at least still playing, running, and bucking in the pasture (which his canter looked fine), but he is progressively getting more ouchy and especially when turning in tight circles. I can't say that I have seen him bolt off and play in anyway except for rearing (which is beautiful, he does it every morning with his pasture mate). He is definitely better with the soft rides than barefoot, but still not sound either way. I have asked my farrier about laminitis because that is the only thing that has come up in the past that would be something around this time of year, as it almost always is for him, and spring here began early with lots of rain = lots of fresh grass. However, even with all the dates and reasoning I have to support it, he says he would NOT think he has laminitis. His feet are in great shape right now even with the shoes being tossed in January. Both feet are looking excellent, but the RF is even better than the LF if there is a comparison. How does that work? Anyway, I am not the professional and it's not like I want him to be laminitic, but I'm just done with him being lame :( I want to know how to help him.
Since his feet are great and they grew a LOT, he was able to get shoes back on this past weekend (regular keg shoes). He was negative completely with hoof testers, but the farrier did notice he had some bruising on the bottoms of his hooves which is common for a horse after having shoes for a long time like he did and then not have shoes. The new shoes now might be putting constant pressure on the bruising causing him to be a bit more ouchy. I don't really see it with him walking in a straight line on the grass or pavement - he actually looks to be walking really nicely. It's when walking down the barn isle that is uneven ground and pivoting, oh man he looks so terribly ouchy when he has to be turned in a tighter circle to close a gate or something.
I tried Pentosan and while I thought he was still consistently improving, that has now come to a complete halt! He even had his check-up with the awesome vet chiropractor and is STILL lame. Time to back track AKA start over *hold on while I go cry*.
First step: shoes, check, Second: Previcoxx, as of tomorrow morning, check
I do hope to see him sound in the near future so we can at least begin again in the right direction. I know it was suggested that exercise would be best for him to strengthen his neck, but I think this time he is going to get 12 or so weeks of plain turnout. I would like to hand walk him during this time or maybe just ride him at a walk, but nothing else. I had pulled his shoes back in 2012 just a few months after owning him, and while he went lame the first time WITH shoes, I still have a hunch that it was a mistake to ever take them off. I wonder if we would have had issues again if I had not, because he was going well at the time. I'm going to try to give him time to just RE-set himself and see where that gets us.
Pray for him, pray for me. This is hard. I think if he becomes trail horse sound at this point that's all I can ask for. I haven't ridden a horse since the beginning of February!! Ahh!!
