Tuesday, October 23, 2012

I should have seen this one coming.

Well, this past weekend ended up being interesting to say the least. First of all, Cairo's surgery went great on Thursday,and she is on the mend. Her incision is already healing very well. The best news came yesterday, when the vet called to say the margins were clean and she is cancer-free!

Lucy had her clinic this weekend and I really have mixed feelings about it. The clinic ran for three days, and each horse did three hour sessions once a day. That is 9 hours of work in just three days, and while I think Lucy probably gained something from it, I do think that was a lot to ask of the horse. Clinics are a great way to introduce yourself to some new concepts but the idea of going to a clinic and having all of your problems magically fixed in a short amount of time is very false in my opinion. I really liked the clinician and thought his approach was very effective.

When I went to pick Lucy up, I was told that she was off just slightly in the hind end, which was not a very nice surprise. Of course she still worked for the whole three hours on Sunday, too. So now I have to figure out what is going on, how sore she really is, if it's an injury or a strain, and then decide what to do about it. Lauren jumped her on Wednesday and she looked fabulous, not off at all. I have watched the video of her riding that day about 8 or 9 times and I can't find any hint of unsoundness.

Lucy got Monday and today off, and she will get tomorrow off as well. She got bute with her dinner, too. I had a massage therapist out to look at her tonight to pinpoint where she is sore, so that I could have help deciding if this was a vet issue or not. The massage therapist determined that she was very, very sore in her hind end and when I told her about the exercises she did at the clinic (sometimes being backed all the way around the ring), she said, "well that will do it!".


Lucy enjoying her massage. My friend Maddy is
holding her for me :)

The massage therapist recommended that she should have tomorrow off, but we can go for a nice long walk in-hand to let her stretch her legs, so I will take her for a walk on the trails. She'll like that. Then on Thursday, she can go for a low-key hack. We'll do some stretching and easy trail rides this week, have a flatwork week next week, and if she seems ok then we will do some very low gymnastics in preparation for Equine Affaire. I also emailed the chiro to see if he can come out and look at her. If at any point she seems to be getting worse or not improving, I will have to get the vet out and cancel Equine Affaire. I really, really hope this isn't the case since I am looking forward to EA and it is all paid for. It would be very disappointing to not go but I will absolutely put the horse's best interest first.

14 comments:

  1. SO happy to heat about Cairo!

    Hopefully Lucy is just a wee bit sore from the clinic and it resolves on its own in a few days. Mystery lameness (even partially mysterious) are the worst!

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    1. Yeah, I hope so too. The massage helped narrow the possibilities down and it seems like her soreness is high up, so thank goodness it isn't a leg issue. She also worked out of it nicely on the lunge line in just a couple minutes. I feel a lot better after the MT looked at her; I tend to think of the worst case scenarios in these types of situations (x-rays, lay ups, etc) and I am glad it seems like we won't have to go that far with her.

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  2. Great news about Cairo. And I'm quite jealous of Lucy getting that message, that sounds great!

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    1. Me too! I could really use a massage, too! lol

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  3. Great news about Cairo, and hopefully Lucy just needs a little R&R

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    1. Exactly my hope, too. I think she is enjoying her little vacation.

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  4. I saw your post on FB about the clinic...just not cool. And then to have her come home sore and lame...wth?! Hopefully it's nothing some time off won't help, and she'll be good as new for the EA clinic.

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    1. Yeah I was not impressed, and I am disappointed that it worked out that way because I will probably never loan out a horse again, especially when I can't be there...I was in NY all weekend with Kenny at a wedding. It took a massive leap of faith to let her go to this clinic but if I had any inkling that she would come home so sore that EA would be put in jeopardy, I wouldn't have done it.

      I do think that some of these soreness issues probably existed in very minor forms when she went to the clinic, but not nearly to the extent that they're present now. She absolutely never looked lame on the lunge line or under saddle until Sunday. I would never have sent her to a three day clinic if I thought she was sore or lame in any way (this was also insinuated).

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  5. So happy to hear your pupster is fine! Whew :)
    Secondly-grrr about Lucy being 'off' and backed around the ring?? I'm firmly set on only backing up Laz about 7-10 steps max in work. I just think it's awkward for them mentally/physically. I am SURE she will bounce back quick and in time for EA b/c you keep her so well conditioned and are giving her a resting break. How about a nice liniment rub down on her muscles?

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    1. The clinician had some really wonderful insight and I was not present when they did the backing up around the ring, so I would really like to reserve judgement and think that there was a really, really good reason to do that, but I agree, that is a LOT to ask of a horses body.

      Good idea on the liniment, I bet she would like that. I just have to be careful with the temperatures at night here - we are already getting into some early frosts.

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  6. I would also like to say YAY for Cairo! That is fantastic! It's so awful when our pets go through something like that.. :(

    I'm sorry Lucy came home hurting.. that sucks! I wouldn't lend her out again either!

    Jamie

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  7. I don't have anything new to add except GRR re: Lucy and I am super happy for you and Kenny for Cairo!! That is awesome awesome awesome news!!!

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  8. Glad that Cairo is okay! Sorry to hear about Lucy. Crossing fingers that it resolves itself and you can still go to Equine Affair :)

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  9. I'm super happy to read that Cairo is doing great but sad to read about Lucy. One of the many reasons why I don't lend my horse out, I am really sorry that happened to you and Lucy.

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