Another video session

After a week on Equioxx and Surpass I got Skyy's owner to video Kaswyn again for me. He still had not felt right and I knew he was in pain because he was not keen on working. Also when he was hurt before in the left front he would blow out through his nose when I was riding him, and he started doing that this last week. Not like he was blowing snot out, but a rhythmic blowing out as he worked. He didn't do it on the video but you can certainly see that he is off.



When he saw the video he said "Now he's off left front. Right hind looks good, still slightly off left hind."

I told him that Dr. B was coming out Tuesday, so he said to stop the Equioxx ans Surpass. Then he gave me a set of instructions for Dr. B. First, he's to watch me ride Kaswyn. Then he is to inject the left front neuroectomy site to block it. Then I ride again. Is he is still lame block the left hind pastern. Then I ride again.

I asked what happens if he's still lame then and he said "Then you look at the suspensory, but I don't think you'll get that far." I asked about his hocks again, and asked if he did a Churchill test (it checks for hock pain) last time Kaswyn was there. Dr. G looked confused and said "No, I don't think this is hock pain, and I didn't do a Churchill." I told him that Dr. B would probably do a Churchill and if he comes back positive he's going to want to inject the hocks and Dr. G said "No, he doesn't need to do that. Tell him that the old man said inject the left front neuromas, then the left hind pastern, and then go from there." I reminded him that Kaswyn also had that splint injury on the left front and he said "I doubt that's it, but you never know. But this is all really good. We keep solving the problems as they come. You see horses will always react to the thing that hurts them the most, and when we fix that then they go to the next thing that hurts them. Nobody ever wrote a book that says when horses are lame they only hurt in one spot. This is the way it goes. We're making progress!"

So I'm supposed to ride him until Dr. B comes on Tuesday. It is so hard to ride him when he hurts because I know he hurts and I feel so bad for him. I know he will work if I ask him to but I feel lousy doing it. I went out today and rode Skyy, and was going to free lunge Kaswyn, but he was taking a nap and I didn't have the heart to disturb him. I'll do something with him tomorrow - probably ride bareback in a halter just to get him moving.

Tomorrow Susan and I might be bringing Albert and Skyy to the nearby polo fields to ride in the dressage arena there and also to ride a bit down the trails. It's kind of a pain because we have to haul them over there in the trailer, but it's worth it if I get to work in an outdoor arena. We might not go, but that is the plan. I'm sure the horses will love getting out there!

Since there are only two people going we can only bring two horses, so Mr. K has to stay home. I feel a little bad about it but since he's not 100% I don't want to push him. Certainly once we get him fixed up we'll take him out. He'll love that!