On 26th October 2013 Red sustained a spiral fracture in his off fore radius. He was cross tied for 8 weeks and then on total box rest for a further month. During February 2014 he was allowed to be led out in hand, obviously he was quite a live wire and, having diced with death on several occasions and received a hoof print dent in a place that made it very uncomfortable to sit down for several months!!!! I decided that someone else could be in the firing line, so in March he went to the vets for 3 weeks of rehabilitation.
When he returned he was the good old Red we know and love. He had a small paddock made up for him and was quite content to be back home and, most importantly, back out in a field.
He was put on a fitness plan designed to build up the strength in his muscles and bones again. As we progressed to trot (starting with literally 10 steps) he did not seem quite right. He was 'sound' but just felt....awkward.
In June 2014 he came in hopping lame on his off fore, of course we feared it was something to do with his fracture and he was taken to the vets for x-rays.
There is good news and bad news.
His fracture was absolutely fine....however the x-rays showed a cyst on his navicular bone and a scan revealed a small tear in his DDFT at the back of the pastern! I was gutted. The vets began talking about treatment / shoeing / prognosis ..... All I could hear was navicular, navicular, navicular!
He was given Tildren and it was agreed that he would not go back on box rest (we couldn't go through that again) but could be managed in a tiny paddock.
On 25th June he was fitted with aluminium, graduated, egg bar shoes with an equi pack sole pack to support the sole and frog. The difference was instant and amazing, Red was walking properly...not his awkward mince of a walk, but a proper, bold and proud walk!
He mooched around his paddock, coming into the yard daily for a change of scenery and cuddles, for about 5 weeks until, one day he decided he would show us all how great he was feeling and went bucking and spinning around his paddock. It is amazing how much speed he could get up in just a few strides, I jumped the other side of the fence to avoid his hind feet...well I had only just been able to sit down again!
With a launch and a buck Red's off fore shoe went spinning through the air...great!
He actually didn't look much different with the lost shoe, he would be a bit sore if he stepped on a large stone on the way into the yard but other than that was still walking well.
New shoes.
On 30th July Red was fitted with a pair of easy break over shoes with frog support pads and magic cushion sole pack. His walk disappeared. He looked like someone wearing a pair of stilettos that were two sizes too small. After a few days I just wanted them off his feet, I spoke to the vets and they advised to "see how he goes". They said that as the shoes were changing the balance of his feet it might take him a while to get used to them. After two weeks he seemed to improve, still not the walk we had found before, but better than when the shoes first went on. Red was put back into the main field with the rest of his friends and would hopefully be able to begin light work again in a few weeks.
Tumeric.
It was suggested to me that I fed Red Termeric and so at the end of August he was put onto 1 table spoon tumeric, 125g full fat linseed and 20 grinds of black pepper (built up gradually of course).
The latest picture.
On 28th October 2014 Red was re assessed at the vets. He was not 'nodding' when trotting in a straight line but was rocking his weight back off the off fore. On the lunge on a hard surface he was still about 3/10 lame and on a soft surface just threw the odd lame step. He was also re x-rayed and scanned. The DDFT was still enlarged, although had gone down a little and the cyst looked as though it had some (very slight) thickening around the edges. He was given another round of Tildren.
Time to heal.
I am a great believer in giving time to heal. I think that sometimes we expect our horses (and other animals) to repair too quickly. My finger got twisted while lunging once and it was really quite sore a year later (and still can be now) and I don't have to walk on it!
I was told that he could be ridden in walk, in straight lines, however, I decided that he needed time to heal properly and to turn him away for the winter. So Red grew a warm winter coat, was well rugged and left to rest.
Pastures new.
As the winter set in and the rain turned the field into a rice paddy red began to look lame when walking up the field, however when trotted up on a hard surface was sound. I read an article that pointed out that this could be seen in horses with tendon damage as the mud allowed the heel to sink which stretched the tendon causing pain but the hard surface kept the foot flat and so it didn't hurt...I had to get Red out of all of that mud!
He moved to a new yard on 2nd January 2015 where the fields were much drier.
This brings us to today, 19th January 2015, where the rain has caught up with us and the fields are a sea of mud, everything is wet or frozen and a holiday in a warmer climate is very much needed! However, the days are just about becoming longer again and hopefully the daffodils will be making an appearance in the near future.
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