Really? So why would that be new news? Well, Gus has been fairly sound in the hind end (aka stifles) since he was moved to my MIL's back in 2009. The last time he had his stifles injected was in January of 2009. We haven't experienced any problems since then. Well, on Wednesday things changed.
I brought him in as usual for my lesson and noticed when I asked him to move his butt over, he would literally fall over. Definitely not normal. He was also resting the right hind. When I put him in the groom stall to get him prepped for the lesson, he had a very hard time turning around. He also would not lift the left hind for me to pick out his hooves... because then he'd have to bear full weight on that right hind.
I took him into the arena to lunge him and he was definitely off on that right hind. So off to call the vet. Dr. N will be out on Monday to for sure do a quick lameness eval and then do (mostlikely) joint injections to be the right and left stifles.
I feel bad for Gus but I'm also really mad. It seems like this is how life works. Hopefully the injections do their magic and Gus is miraculously back to normal within the week... but for some reason, I'm not holding my breath for that...
Friday, October 22, 2010
Friday, October 8, 2010
Long Overdue Update
It's been ages since I've done an update on the boys. I do have plenty of pictures to post too, go figure, right? Anyways, the photos will have to come later. First things first though.
Gringo. He's been doing fairly well all summer long. Too well, in fact. The little porker looks more like a cow then the Andalusian/Appaloosa that he is. He weights nearly as much as Gus, according to the weight tape at least.
Soundness-wise, well he's the same 'ol. Still off and on sound. More off then anything else though as of late. MIL doesn't seem to notice it at all, but I've known Gringo for a bit longer and although it is sometimes very minute, the lameness is still there. We'll see what the spring holds for him. She (MIL) would like me to start him under saddle again. I would like to see Gringo have some sort of job, as he's just wasting away in the pasture. But I think he enjoys his life for the most part. After all, he's nearly 8 and this is all he's ever known.
Food-wise, Gringo is now on more of a diet then he's ever been on. Short of slapping on a grazing muzzle (which I'd do if it wasn't for the fact that he'd literally live in it day in and day out, without it coming off) he's on basically just pasture and a small scoop (about 1/5 of a lb) of alfalfa pellets daily along with his supps. The supps are MSM (10g), MagOx 56% (10g), and Mega-Cell. The alf' pellets are only there so there is something to mix his supps with. He's currently on no hay, whatsoever. Although I do think the MIL feels bad for him and gives him some hay every now and then.
He's otherwise as happy as he can be. Just enjoying life.
Gus. We've definitely had our ups and downs. After doing the trial with boots and wedge pads (which we were successful with), Gus had shoes put back on with wedge pads and Forshner's packing added underneath. He was going well for a while, when just before our show in August he decided to throw a shoe. Lovely, right? J was out and put it back on just in time for the show. Despite the fact that Gus desperately needed his Legend injection, he did great at the show, bring in two ribbons, a first and a second. Very proud of my boy.
So, after the show, Gus got the Legend injection and that gave him a second wind. He really started moving better after that. Fast forward until the a few days ago.
We we warming up in the outdoor, prepping for this weekend's show when all of a sudden Gus took a bad step. A really bad step. Head bobbing lame immediately. Got B (the BO/Trainer) over to take a look and agreed with me that it was right fore. Definitely felt like hoof. We thought he may have gotten something (rock, sand?) up underneath the pad, but had no way of really knowing.
So I call out J, again. She really is fabulous. She comes out two days later (incident happened Sunday, I called her Monday after finding out he was still off, she was out Wednesday morning) and pulls both shoes, resets them and applies Equipak. I had a lesson on Wednesday evening and surprisingly, Gus was fairly sound. I am VERY HAPPY about this.
Still unsure what exactly caused the issues. We are sorta wondering if he may have knocked himself really hard or if there was something bothering him that had gotten stuck in the padding. It's interesting that where he did react to the hoof testers (sole, mainly outside near heel) was where he had a big divot in his heel and where he also had a large bruise. We plan on monitoring that hoof really well. I've got pictures... so I'll try to post them later.
Other then all that, Gus is really thriving back at B's. His weight is finally back to where I'd like it to be and he's looking wonderful. He recently received his annual body clip and looks fabulous. I just wish we could get his muscling back up so he looked even better.
Food-wise, he's basically on the same diet he's been on all summer. He's getting 2lbs of Progressive ProAdvantage Grass Formula ration balancer, along with about 6lbs of alfalfa pellets daily. Both of those are divided equally between two meals. His supps are pretty basic. He is getting MagOx 56% (10g), MSM (10g sometimes 20g), and Flex Force HA (1oomg). I'm thinking that if he needs more calories (fat) this winter, I'll either add in the Cool Calories 100 again or add in rice bran.
So, pictures are to come. Eventually.
Gringo. He's been doing fairly well all summer long. Too well, in fact. The little porker looks more like a cow then the Andalusian/Appaloosa that he is. He weights nearly as much as Gus, according to the weight tape at least.
Soundness-wise, well he's the same 'ol. Still off and on sound. More off then anything else though as of late. MIL doesn't seem to notice it at all, but I've known Gringo for a bit longer and although it is sometimes very minute, the lameness is still there. We'll see what the spring holds for him. She (MIL) would like me to start him under saddle again. I would like to see Gringo have some sort of job, as he's just wasting away in the pasture. But I think he enjoys his life for the most part. After all, he's nearly 8 and this is all he's ever known.
Food-wise, Gringo is now on more of a diet then he's ever been on. Short of slapping on a grazing muzzle (which I'd do if it wasn't for the fact that he'd literally live in it day in and day out, without it coming off) he's on basically just pasture and a small scoop (about 1/5 of a lb) of alfalfa pellets daily along with his supps. The supps are MSM (10g), MagOx 56% (10g), and Mega-Cell. The alf' pellets are only there so there is something to mix his supps with. He's currently on no hay, whatsoever. Although I do think the MIL feels bad for him and gives him some hay every now and then.
He's otherwise as happy as he can be. Just enjoying life.
Gus. We've definitely had our ups and downs. After doing the trial with boots and wedge pads (which we were successful with), Gus had shoes put back on with wedge pads and Forshner's packing added underneath. He was going well for a while, when just before our show in August he decided to throw a shoe. Lovely, right? J was out and put it back on just in time for the show. Despite the fact that Gus desperately needed his Legend injection, he did great at the show, bring in two ribbons, a first and a second. Very proud of my boy.
So, after the show, Gus got the Legend injection and that gave him a second wind. He really started moving better after that. Fast forward until the a few days ago.
We we warming up in the outdoor, prepping for this weekend's show when all of a sudden Gus took a bad step. A really bad step. Head bobbing lame immediately. Got B (the BO/Trainer) over to take a look and agreed with me that it was right fore. Definitely felt like hoof. We thought he may have gotten something (rock, sand?) up underneath the pad, but had no way of really knowing.
So I call out J, again. She really is fabulous. She comes out two days later (incident happened Sunday, I called her Monday after finding out he was still off, she was out Wednesday morning) and pulls both shoes, resets them and applies Equipak. I had a lesson on Wednesday evening and surprisingly, Gus was fairly sound. I am VERY HAPPY about this.
Still unsure what exactly caused the issues. We are sorta wondering if he may have knocked himself really hard or if there was something bothering him that had gotten stuck in the padding. It's interesting that where he did react to the hoof testers (sole, mainly outside near heel) was where he had a big divot in his heel and where he also had a large bruise. We plan on monitoring that hoof really well. I've got pictures... so I'll try to post them later.
Other then all that, Gus is really thriving back at B's. His weight is finally back to where I'd like it to be and he's looking wonderful. He recently received his annual body clip and looks fabulous. I just wish we could get his muscling back up so he looked even better.
Food-wise, he's basically on the same diet he's been on all summer. He's getting 2lbs of Progressive ProAdvantage Grass Formula ration balancer, along with about 6lbs of alfalfa pellets daily. Both of those are divided equally between two meals. His supps are pretty basic. He is getting MagOx 56% (10g), MSM (10g sometimes 20g), and Flex Force HA (1oomg). I'm thinking that if he needs more calories (fat) this winter, I'll either add in the Cool Calories 100 again or add in rice bran.
So, pictures are to come. Eventually.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)