Lots to cover

I've got lots to say. Lets just break this down into manageable chunks.

1) When I made the appointment for my horse to the the vet, I spoke to my vet about Kaswyn going barefoot to alleviate his navicular symptoms. My vets opinion on that is this - navicular syndrome encompasses not just the navicular bone, but can include adjacent structures like the surrounding ligaments and the heel itself. It is a fact that there are horses that have radiographic evidence of navicular bone changes that have no lameness at all. So it stands to reason that there are horses that have foot pain that, although they have navicular bone changes, do not have pain due to the navicular bone. If they have heel pain due to improper shoeing, or foot ligament strain due to improper hoof angles, and you let them go barefoot, get good trimming, and relieve the pain, then it appears that the navicular has been "cured". The truth is navicular cannot be cured. It is a progressive disease. You can treat the symptoms and that's just about it. My horse has MRI proof that he's got a large bone cyst in his navicular bone. Due to this my vet thinks that going barefoot wouldn't help my horse at all. There is too much prior evidence that the navicular bone is an issue.

2) I spoke to my blacksmith about having my horse go barefoot. He agreed that it would not help my horse be sound. He watched my horse trot, and his opinion is that Kaswyn is not lame. He is uneven. I agree with this. But why is he uneven? Habit, maybe? Does it really hurt? Is it possible that the first neurectomy is still working? Does bute and isoxuprine really make him better? The unevenness is so slight that it's hard to tell what exactly is going on. My blacksmith's suggestion? Have the vet give Kaswyn a long term foot block to simulate the repeat surgery, if that's possible. If Kaswyn doesn't go sound, then the surgery won't help and we probably shouldn't bother repeating the surgery. In this case, my blacksmith said that he could even up Kaswyn's stride with shoeing. He could shorten up the right front and make it even with the left front. It would effectively shorten his whole stride, and he wouldn't move as well as he used to, but at least he'd he even. But would he be out of pain, and is he in pain now?

3) Susan's father has been awesome and bought her a used trailer, which means we now can take the boys to the nearby park system for trail rides. There is also a polo field area with really nice arenas to ride in, so when we have time we can take them to the arenas to school, and then head down the trails for a bit to cool off. I also don't have to beg to find someone to take my horse to the vet anymore, since Susan said I can use her truck and trailer. Woohoo!

4) As soon as the trailer was delivered, I got sick. I've been sick ever since. I have a terrible cold that has settled into my chest, making it hard to breathe. My asthma has been in overdrive and my inhalers and pills don't seem to be doing a good job. Even sitting still is a bit of a struggle to get a good breath. It's annoying, to say the least. I can hardly walk up the stairs, which means riding down trail is completely out of the question.

5) The quest to help Laura Goldman get more funding continues. I've been getting some great ideas but there always seems to be something that stands in the way. So far I think the most successful thing I've been able to do it blog about it and ask for donations. So, that's what I'm doing again. Please, if you can spare $1, or 5 or 10, go to the USPEA site and donate for Laura Goldman. Or just donate for the team in general. Thanks everyone.

So that's it. I'm going to take my inhaler and sit quietly for a bit. Yeah, that should be fun, huh?