Took Cat to the vet today. She has been off since I got her home. It would look a little better, then she'd be off again. She's not lame at the walk anymore, but the trot is painful to watch. Lame on both front.
So, off to the vet. This isn't fixing itself with time, and rest. My vet appointment was at 11:30. I was hauling in a student's horse, and was going to take Cami for her re-check on lepto so they could pull blood and see where she's at. Cat trumped Cami.
I went into the office to check in and let them know we were there. I told the vet assistant the change in plans. She said she didn't know if Dr. C had time for a full lameness exam. I said that was fine. I wanted him to check a bump on her back that hadn't been there previously, and that she was lame at the walk. Vet Asst..."Oh, he'll check her out."
So, my vet has me trot her away from him, turn at the trot and come back. As I started the turn I could see the bob out of the corner of my eye, and heard the unevenness of gait. It sounded bad. Much worse on pavement than in the pasture. (Great I'm thinking...it's bone or joint).
He has me bring her back, and picks up her leg and starts palpating tendons, ligaments etc.. Then he looks at the sole of her foot, pokes around on it. He walks off...saying nothing (typical Dr. C) and comes back with some hoof testers. She's tender to the pressure. I'm thinking "Hallelujah it's an abscess." (Kind of sad when you're ecstatic over a possibility of an abscess). He must have been thinking it was more. He probed around with a hoof knife, looking for soft spots etc. Nothing really.
Off he goes again, as he's walking away he looks back and says, "Well, bring her inside." (the 'ya moron' was silent lol). So he pulls a syringe of p....caine something. To block her hoof. We wait for the block to take effect, and then trot her out again. Little to no improvement. (Well SHIT!) Not an abscess. We go to the next level, block a little higher. Takes in most of the fetlock. She looked pretty good after this block. However she was still off on her right, and once the left was blocked she showed up lame traveling straight on the right, not just on a turn.
We head back in for Xrays. He does four on the left front.
Compression to the joint, some synovial fluid loss, some cartilidge damage. He figures the same thing is happening in the right front also. He did say it wasn't advanced, and that she should recover with time and meds. I told him her barrelracing days were done. He said he figured we could get her back to where she had been, but it wasn't a bad idea to pull her for good. She'll be a fine riding horse. No need to run for a living anymore. Hell, my girl is 17...good enough. I enjoy just hanging out and riding her. Why take the risk, she's a freaken pet that happened to have talent. I haven't decided whether to tell my friend that was running her, and dropped her off lame, what is going on. I'd probably have trouble being polite at this moment.
So, Cat got an IV injection of Legend. She'll go back for another in a week. Each shot is $100 plus the office call. We are considering combining it with Adequan (series of 4 to 8 at $50 a shot every four days) it's intramuscular. She'll be on a gram of bute a day for twelve days. She's confined to the 100 x 130' pen, which is where I put her to begin with. Some nutraceuticals...I think I'm going with the GLC 5000. My vet bill today was $382.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Shadrack III
When Shad was about 18mths old he thought he was pretty hot stuff. He was pretty hard on people he didn't consider part of his crew, or that he thought he could scare. He was actually pretty good at it. As a long yearling one of the local trainers went up to his pen. I had a halter on Shad as I was in there cleaning, and we were going for a walk after I finished his pen. Now Shad was a biter. He got in loads of trouble for it, but when he was young if he didn't like you, or thought he could get away with it, he'd take a swipe at you. Usually just grabbing clothes, or to make you jump. Rarely ever connected with anyone, and never more than a pinch.
Well this guy walks up to the stall door, and Shad of course goes to see. I say, "Watch him, he might try and bite." This guy grabs the cheek piece of Shad's halter, and whacks him across the cheek a couple times saying, "Oh, no we'll get along fine, he's a good guy." Well, Shad apparently thought the macho comradely smacking sucked. He drew back and tagged the guy in the shoulder so hard he tore the guy's shirt. And of course took off out the back of the stall at speed. Great, so I have to get after my colt, because this guy's a moron. Hey, they aren't allowed to bite, even if the person they bite is a moron. Shad comes flying toward me, I holler at him, grab the halter and smack him once and tie him up. The guy thinks we should really get after him. I'm flabbergasted..it's now been over a minute...like Shad is going to have a clue why he's getting smacked on.
Well, this guy ended up training Shad's dam, after she was sold. She was started but needed to be finished. She broke his leg. I told him..."Man, this line of horses, just isn't working for you." HAH!
One afternoon Shad was showing off in his pen. His pen was probably 25 x 60' with a stall at the front that he could go in and out of at will. It was a wood pen, with hot wire around the inside boards to deter chewing. His water trough was a big bathtub set next to the fence. So, he's strutting around, slinging his head, swishing around, tail up so high it's lying over his flank. It was close to dinner time...big big show.
Shad is wringing his neck and slinging his head so hard it's lifting his front end off the ground. Well, Shad is close to the trough, he slings his head so hard, he does a 180 on his hind legs and falls into the water trough. I'm shocked, and then I look at him, his little fat tummy bulging toward the sun and his legs sticking skyward and start to laugh. Then as fast as I start to laugh, I stop....'Holyshit, how am I going to get him out of the tub?' Well, no sooner do I think this, he touches the hotwire. He came out of that tub like he was spring-loaded....just levered himself up and out.
I of course am trying to check him over, make sure there is no damage. He's mad mad mad. Turns his back to me. Doesn't want to see me at all. His tail is wet, and it keeps smacking into and wrapping around his hock. This was just insult to injury to Shad. He'd kick his tail, stomp his foot, and it would wrap back around the hock. So very mad long yearling, wet, embarrassed with his back to me, kicking his tail...totally bent out of shape, "Oh the indignity of it all."
Well this guy walks up to the stall door, and Shad of course goes to see. I say, "Watch him, he might try and bite." This guy grabs the cheek piece of Shad's halter, and whacks him across the cheek a couple times saying, "Oh, no we'll get along fine, he's a good guy." Well, Shad apparently thought the macho comradely smacking sucked. He drew back and tagged the guy in the shoulder so hard he tore the guy's shirt. And of course took off out the back of the stall at speed. Great, so I have to get after my colt, because this guy's a moron. Hey, they aren't allowed to bite, even if the person they bite is a moron. Shad comes flying toward me, I holler at him, grab the halter and smack him once and tie him up. The guy thinks we should really get after him. I'm flabbergasted..it's now been over a minute...like Shad is going to have a clue why he's getting smacked on.
Well, this guy ended up training Shad's dam, after she was sold. She was started but needed to be finished. She broke his leg. I told him..."Man, this line of horses, just isn't working for you." HAH!
One afternoon Shad was showing off in his pen. His pen was probably 25 x 60' with a stall at the front that he could go in and out of at will. It was a wood pen, with hot wire around the inside boards to deter chewing. His water trough was a big bathtub set next to the fence. So, he's strutting around, slinging his head, swishing around, tail up so high it's lying over his flank. It was close to dinner time...big big show.
Shad is wringing his neck and slinging his head so hard it's lifting his front end off the ground. Well, Shad is close to the trough, he slings his head so hard, he does a 180 on his hind legs and falls into the water trough. I'm shocked, and then I look at him, his little fat tummy bulging toward the sun and his legs sticking skyward and start to laugh. Then as fast as I start to laugh, I stop....'Holyshit, how am I going to get him out of the tub?' Well, no sooner do I think this, he touches the hotwire. He came out of that tub like he was spring-loaded....just levered himself up and out.
I of course am trying to check him over, make sure there is no damage. He's mad mad mad. Turns his back to me. Doesn't want to see me at all. His tail is wet, and it keeps smacking into and wrapping around his hock. This was just insult to injury to Shad. He'd kick his tail, stomp his foot, and it would wrap back around the hock. So very mad long yearling, wet, embarrassed with his back to me, kicking his tail...totally bent out of shape, "Oh the indignity of it all."
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