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| The original vet bill machine, at least he's cute |
Now that I'm riding Rico more and trying not to worry about TC, I've turned my worry to him. He's twenty years old now and obviously no spring chicken. I think he's doing well for his age, considering the multitude of problems he's had and how much work he has previously been in. One of my goals was to make sure that Rico had a long and happy retirement, which drove my decision to not lease him out at the end of his dressage career. He's sound enough to be on pasture happily for as long as the rest of him will keep going.
So as I brought him back into a little bit of work this spring, I've been obsessively looking for reasons why Rico shouldn't work anymore. For the most part, Rico has been happy to work. Like I said yesterday, there are days where he's not into it, and I don't force the issue. It could be that he's just being lazy and that I'm teaching him he can decide not to work when he doesn't want to, or it could be that he's in pain on those days.
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| Looking pretty good for being 20 years old |
So seeing Rico start to do that and knowing that he's not comfortable bending his neck right made me freak out.
After Stretch and Riot got their dentals, the vet (not my magic vet but the local vet) came to look at Rico. We walked him on hard ground and then walked and trotted on soft ground. I don't think that the vet thought it was as big of a deal as I did, but I explained that he's very stoic so I tend to be more sensitive when he exhibits any sort of pain. By the time he's showing that he's in pain, he's been in pain for a long time.
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| Right has always been hard for him |
Luckily the vet does chiropractic and acupuncture, so we started there. I wanted to do radiographs, but the vet said "I'm 100% sure he has neck arthritis, most older dressage horses do" and I backed off. I'm the sort of person who wants to X-RAY AND INJECT ALL THE THINGS, but I mean he's mostly just hanging out in pasture and trail riding (especially when TC comes back in two weeks). And a chiro appointment is significantly less than doing radiographs and then hauling into the veterinary clinic to do what might have to be an ultrasound guided injection.
Rico wasn't significantly out anywhere except his neck. His C4 was the problem, which makes sense. He's happy to flex to the right, but he gets to a certain point and stops. She did three adjustments over the course of the entire adjustment on that side of his neck. Then she did the acupuncture.
Watching acupuncture makes me want to get it done to myself, mostly because it looks so weird and I'm really curious what it feels like.
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| Poking the pony. Damn, you can see how big his shoulders are in this picture. Saddle fitting nightmare |
The vet suggested adequan, legend, and putting him on low dose prevocox if the adjustment didn't make a significant difference. He's for sure not getting adequan and legend (too expensive and come on, he's not doing anything difficult right now), but prevocox is a possibility. On the one hand, I want him to be comfortable, but on the other hand, I don't want to pump him full of NSAIDs if it's not really necessary. And it's not, he doesn't present as being in pain.
So we'll see. I already give him bute when trail riding or when people come to ride him. He doesn't get it on days off or when I ride him, since if he's a little funny, I'll just turn our ride into a walk down the road. If we do go with prevocox, we can do a quarter tablet every other day, which is really not that hard on his system.
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| He isn't ready to be retired just yet |
maybe it's weird but i kinda love watching acupuncture on the horses too and definitely want to try it. isabel seems to really enjoy most of it, tho there are a couple places that are really tough for her (esp around her SI). and one horse who had some nerve damage in his face after getting kicked was practically violent about acupuncture there, and then the thing actually spurted blood and suddenly he was super quite and relaxed. crazy.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised how well Adequan worked on Pig this time around. But, it does nothing until he's on the 3rd dose. Then the effects wear off after exactly 3-4 days. I can't afford to keep him on it every 4 days forever, and I wouldn't want to due to possible cardiac issues indicated in some studies by overuse. I have no issues using it just before a show, but I wouldn't use it day-in-day-out for Pig. I can totally see how you wouldn't want to use it for Rico.
ReplyDeletePrevicox seems like a great alternative. Plus, riding him more is probably helping keep that iffy joint a little more flexible. You might be feeling things more now because he's starting to feel a little more flexible, then hits the ouchy spot.
Did your vet mention Pentosan? My vet is a big fan - thinks that it has been proven to be more effective than Adequan or Legend. It's relatively cheap - $110 from Wedgewood Pharmacy. Just an idea!
ReplyDeleteHope your big man is alright. I am a big worry wart too - I feel your pain!
He definitely doesn't strike me as a horse who wants to be retired full-time. It sounds like you've found a good happy medium treatment and work wise!
ReplyDeleteI know how you feel about looking for reasons your horse shouldn't work any more- I do the same thing with Moe. Rico sounds like he's happy to be doing what he's doing, though!
ReplyDeletePolyglycan is also a less-expensive alternative to Legend, etc. Rico looks amazing!
ReplyDeleteI liked Stinker on the Pentosan but he had a bad reaction and his neck blew up and he looked like he had tied up.
ReplyDeleteI am sure you will find a happy medium between pasture fluff and inject all things.
Hope the chiro adjustment sticks and that stretch is looking good
ReplyDeleteI know a lot of people that swear by previcox
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