Injections Complete

So it's been a little over 24 hours since Alex had his back injected.  I would say he's 80% improved just from his non reactions to medium pressure. He does still have one spot where he is moderately sensitive (it was his worst spot) which I'm hoping will continue to improve.

Tomorrow we'll start back with some light lunging and see how he feels. My vet said I could lightly ride him on Friday, but I think I'm going to play it safe and lunge him a few days first while checking his back for soreness.  I really hope this works, I've been ripping my hair out trying to get him comfortable.

Today I found that he had some "crud" on his withers/back and that made me feel like the worst horse mommy ever. Gonna have to get to work on that tomorrow when I can bathe him.

Now I have a question for my followers... I'm considering buying a Back On Track blanket (I think it's called a Back Blanket). I know some of you use BOT products.  What do you think of them? Particularly interested in those that use them for back/muscle soreness. Worth the hype/price? Lay it on me! :-)

The Downward Spiral

I realize its been a wee bit since my last post... sorry about that, but as per usual, when something big is going on, the frequency of my posts suffer.  Maybe someday I'll learn to use my blog properly!

For the last three weeks or so, Alex and I have been having a lot of trouble with the canter.  He'd either buck or depart rocking and throwing his head up.  At first I thought it was behavioral/strength related, maybe he was just weak in the back end, having trouble balancing.  I spent several very frustrating nights wondering what I was doing wrong. 

Finally I decided it had to be pain related and called the vet.  After examining Alex and watching him jog, he pronounced him in need of hock injections, which we did the same day. 

Alex returned to light work after a day off, and a day of lunging. Both trot and canter felt great although there was a little anticipation, and I thought our troubles were over.  

A week ago today, I went out to ride after giving Alex the weekend off and it was bad... he would canter and then buck and run sideways almost into the fence.  The vet came back out the next day, pronounced him back sore, gave me some muscle relaxers to see if we could get him to relax and therefore alleviate some of his soreness.  I was told to ride him lightly on the flat and ask him to stretch. 

Wednesday we had an absolutely terrible ride even though I lunged Alex beforehand, as soon as I asked him to canter, he began alternating bucks and rears and felt like he was going to fall over with me.  This was not a behavioral thing... this was extreme pain.  After talking to the vet again (I'm sure he's probably tired of me by this point) we agreed to continue the muscle relaxers for a week, working him only from the ground and see if things improved. 

I saw slight improvements with the meds, but Alex was still tender to even medium pressure on his back, definitely didn't want to be ridden and just generally appeared to be uncomfortable.  Apparently he'd been compensating for pain in his hocks (which are just perfect now) and really done a number on his back.

Since the pain he's in is not likely to subside entirely with rest and Alex seems to be in so much pain, I've decided, with the vet's guidance, that he's going to have his back injected.

This whole thing has been so depressing and frustrating, which is why I just haven't had the heart to blog.  All I can hope for now is that this finally gets him some relief.

Rolex Show-Jumping!

Sunday brought Rolex Show Jumping with alternating cloudy and sunny skies.  It was a tough course, I think there were only four double clean rounds!  My favorite photos are below :-)

My Favorite!

 

 

Andrew Nicholson and Quimbo
Winners Rolex 2013

 Despite the interesting start, it was a great weekend, can't wait till next year!

Rolex Cross-Country!

Rolex Cross-Country photos are here!  It was a cloudy day, and the rain threatened, but only reared it's ugly head for a few minutes while the riders were on course.  Having completed my shopping spree the day before, I spent Saturday running from fence to fence taking photos.  My favorites are below.  Enjoy :-)

This is my favorite!

 

 

 

Stadium photos coming soon!

Back in Blogger Land & Rolex Dressage

Hello everyone!  Yes I know it's been a loooooong time since I posted, but I have good excuses... really I do.

On Friday 4/19, I went out to the farm to lunge Alex and much to my chagrin he was LAME!  With all the abscess drama, I immediately went into panic mode.  Saturday morning my mom came out with me to watch him go and confirmed that he looked off in the right front.  I was thinking it was another abscess, after all, that foot had bourne a lot of pressure during the abscess disaster, but I wasn't 100% sure.  I called the vet and he came out to take a look, agreeing that he saw something in the right front.  Hoof testing revealed that Alex was sore in the outside quarter.  I got some bute and GastroGuard, called the farrier to yank the shoe and hunkered down for another abscess.  Fast forward to Monday morning and the arrival of my farrier.  I asked him to hoof test Alex again.  This time there wasn't any soreness.  He asked me to jog Alex for him in the grass and Alex promptly tried to stand up on his hind legs, hop and bite me all at once.  Yeah... he was miraculously no longer lame... damn horse :-)

Fast forward again to Friday 4/26 and my first day of Rolex.  My weekend started with a bang...literally.  S and I were packed and ready to head off to the Horse Park to start our Rolex extravaganza, but made a detour out to the farm to give Alex some U-7.  We were driving down a back road to the farm behind a furniture truck when what turned out to be a large very dead branch hit my windshield.  It sounded like an explosion and elicited a few choice words from both S and I. 

No Bueño

Thankfully neither of us was anything but stunned and my awesome hubby came to the rescue and dealt with getting the car towed to the body shop so we could high-tail it to Rolex.

We missed the morning horses, but got to see some of the best rides in the afternoon.  Of course I took pictures, my favorites are below.

William Fox-Pitt and Chili Morning

 

Andrew Nicholson and Quimbo

Friday was also my big shopping day (crowds are thinner) and let me tell you, Alex really cleaned up.  He got a new snazzy every day halter with a name plate, a grooming halter with a name plate (the one S had previously bought for us), new square saddle pads and a new Thin Line half-pad with fleece roll (I've been drooling over it for a while now).  I got some Rolex swag and a new pair of Thin Line half-chaps which are uber comfy!  That's about all I could carry and all my bank account could stand.

Alex in his snazzy new halter

Rolex cross-country pics coming in the next post!