Rehab Rollercoaster

Things are going well and also not well at the same time for TC. I'm trying not to let myself get jerked around emotionally by this mystery lameness/problem too much. But sometimes it's hard! 

I took a couple of screenshots on the longe one day

I'm super pleased with how he looks when he's moving, especially after warm up. He definitely still has a slight unevenness in his left hind, so I'm considering that this could be his left stifle - I'm going to talk to the vet about injecting that when we go back in February. But he does seem to work out of it pretty well. 

He's lifting pretty well through his back, I can see his abs coming in, with a nice line from his girth all the way back to his flank. He's reaching nicely for the contact, even though it's just on the long lines. His withers are staying fairly well up and his neck is staying out. He's pretty forward at the trot - certainly more forward after he warms up. He's still a little reluctant to canter all that much, it's a bit stifled and slow, but I have seen improvement in that. He's still building strength. We're doing cavalletti, transitions, reining back, and he's on the bit the whole time he works. He's doing the work, it's just not showing in his body. 

Like I don't hate this at all

And at the same time, he still looks like garbage in the stall/paddock. I know he is a low tone horse, and this is why I'm being patient (or trying to be at least). I really hope things start to change in that department though. His back is still sunken and he's got minimal glutes, so he just looks... awful. 

But I have been able to get him burning enough calories to eat more hay, and now we're slowly switching him from Teff to Orchard (better nutrients). Once that is done, my next goal will be to add some alfalfa. He is getting enough protein because of the ration balancer, but I'd love for him to get alfalfa in his diet too! We had to take him off of it because it was so high calorie. 

Zero topline, I am aware

I'm starting to make a list of everything I want to do in February as well. Reminder that I'm waiting until February after the vet said that we should see a change in the topline by then if it was a limb-joint issue that we treated with the injections. Patience is hard!

The vet I saw for the injections had said that he'd recommend getting an internal medicine specialist on the case. So I'm considering bringing them both in for the appointment in February. Here's what I'm thinking about asking for:

- Lameness + neuro exam, see if he's improved since our November appointment, especially on the neuro exam (if he is better, that would give me a lot of hope that he was just out of shape vs actually neurological)

- Neck injections C5/6 + C6/7 both sides

- Left stifle injection

- Scope for ulcers

- Redo all blood tests (incl. for Selenium levels this time)

After this appointment, I'll also get the nutritionist involved. I wanted to call her this fall, but I realized that a) I didn't have all the bloodwork I wanted and b) he wasn't in enough work where I could even feed him enough. So I think by February, we'll be all set to check on that. 

I'm really hoping that we get to a point where things start to improve and I can get back on him. I really think that's going to be a big test! I'm still waiting for his back to look like, an ounce better (well, more than that). 

I dunno, he's at least not getting horrifically worse

In the meantime, I'm ordering him some things to help him out. I noticed that when I was trail riding him (which I do bareback), his bareback pad was putting a bit of pressure on his withers. So I ordered him a fancy one that hopefully won't. And I'm also going to change his girth and get him a nice fleece half pad in preparation for riding him. I want to get him as comfortable as I can, even just to rule out equipment as part of the problem. 

So we'll keep plugging away and hope that one day the before pictures are actually BEFORE and not just pictures of what he looks now only cleaner.