Vet's Been :o(

[domane]

Our lovely vet has been and assessed Cherry's lameness. As I suspected, he thinks it is related to her bad tendon which, although not huge, is considerably fatter than her other (he also said it would be a "bl**dy sight easier to tell if she didn't have all this feather" :p but I know that he particularly loves feathered cobs!! He doesn't feel it is worth x-rays or scans as he knows her history. He also said that he didn't feel it was bad enough to warrant surgery!!! :eek: but he did ask where we stand regarding insurance (her leg is excluded) He also reckons the large windgalls is just because that leg is now not anatomically "normal" anymore.... basically put the whole episode down to "wear and tear".

So..... she is on bute for 9 days. To come in at night and out in the day and for me to ride her 15-20 mins a day at a walk.

Me? Well, I'm feeling a bit flat to be honest. I knew the risks when i bought her and when she first went lame I immediately feared the worst and started thinking "field ornament". If she comes back sound I certainly think that her exercise regime will need to be reviewed and restricted to prevent further mishap. If she chooses to hooley round the field, that's her choice.

I would never put her through surgery - I would rather loan her out locally as a confidence-restoring "gentle hack" to a fellow "mature" rider or for her to be a field "companion"...

But all thoughts of jumping, re-schooling or taking her up the hill are very much on the way out now, for her comfort.

Sharers will probably be cancelled as I can't see them sticking to walking...

I suppose the bottom line is that this appears to be a large step towards retirement for my gorgeous girlie *sniff* :(

Just thought I'd let you all know.......

[Mehitabel]

so sorry to hear this.

[amandal]

really sorry to hear this.

[CurlyWurlyRach]

aww domane, im so sorry [[[[[HUGS]]]]]
It's great that your still putting chez first :) it shows how much you care and i really do hope she gets better.

[joey_olop]

So sorry, you must be gutted sending you lots of hugs :)

[NoviceNic]

Bummer.:( Go with what the vet has advised and see how well she comes through. I am sure eveything will start to look a bit rosier soon. I dont think Cherry is ready to give up and retire yet do you?? Be strong for her and give her loads of kisses from me please. :)

[cazrider]

Oh Jane.. not good news Honey.:( Really sorry to hear this. However, she's tough and it is early days, so keep your chin up if possible. Lots of sympathy from me, and a big horsey slobber from Sennie for Chez.. he likes mares;) .

[Mimi + Me]

I don't know the history of Cherry's tendon injury but we had a big horse at our yard who had tendon damage and basically was semi-retired for a few months over winter but is now absolutely fine. He was very active before and used to do a lot of ODE's which he's obviously not going to be able to do again, but he's fine for hacking, a bit of dressage and occasionally jumping.

I don't know what your long-term plans for Cherry were, but if it was just to mainly hack and do the odd fun thing then I wouldn't feel down for too long (which you probably won't be, you seem to a very optimistic person!:) ).

Shame about the timing with the sharers though, never mind, at least you managed to get some even if it was only for a short time. I just totally gave up in the end looking for a sharer for Mimi - it just wasn't worth the hassle in the end.

[katieB]

Sorry to hear that, it will be a real shame if she has to retire already. Big hugs for you and Cherry :)

[teabiscuit]

so sorry to hear this Jane.
xxx

[Lucyad]

Oh dear, poor Cherry and poor you. Hope it clears up and she gets back to normal as soon as possible, and surprises you by making a full recovery.

[Dummer&Drummer]

arr sorry to hear this. i dont know the history either. drummer has been on but over the last few weeks for 7 days and he has made a full recovery, but think it was for something different x

[Zingy]

Fingers crossed for you. It's very difficult to look on the bright side sometimes. I really hope it works out for you.

[Imp]

Oh Jane, that's a cr*p thing to happen to poor Cherry again :( .

I agree, stick it out, she came sound before and she was a sight worse then wasn't she? Will your sharers not want to be involved in her recouperation programme or are they only sharing to ride... I'm not sure of your arrangements with them.

Could you loan another horse to ride whilst she's temporarily indisposed? Trouble with that is cost though isn't it :rolleyes:

Thinking of you both - give her a big wuffles from Megan and us :)

[teabiscuit]

echoe Imp, Cherry is bound to come good again-and wishing Cherry a speedy recovery

[LindaAd]

I'm sorry about poor Cherry ... I do hope she gets better.

Why are you against surgery? Does the vet think it could help? It's not distressing for the horse - the only difficult part is the box rest afterwards; when Barney had surgery, they said there was a 50/50 chance that he'd be sound again, and we were unlucky, but at least I gave him the chance.


Linda

[Guest]

Oh no....these horses:(

Lets hope that she does make a recovery, stay positive.

I'll pm you later.

[jenren!!]

Oh sh*t...

I guess it just means you'll have to take extra care with her in the future, im having to with Aramis and whether i will do what i want to do with her in the future can only be hoped for. I do know how you must be feeling.

Just stay positive, and keep an open mind about these things, i guess these days miracles could happen.

Lots of hugs...Jenny xx

[Scarlett 001]

Oh dear. I guess I missed earlier posts on her tendon history. :confused: What is her tendon history? I'll do a search on old posts, but perhaps you could fill me in briefly.

If it is any comfort, Skeeter had a full-out tendon injury the year before I bought him (very serious injury). He had no proper rehabilitation (not even sure he ever had a vet visit :eek: so it could have ended up badly) but was put out to pasture for 8 months. He was then brought back to the stables, and to my horror I heard through a grapevine he was jumping again, with no real easing back into things (I was not at his stables at the time, so not there witnessing first-hand). Since I bought him, he's been sound as anything on that leg doing dressage work, and messing about the field galloping like a wee crazy boy. I realize your tendon issue is different, and each horse is different, but this could have ended Skeeter's riding career. The pre-purchase vet said he was pleased that I was going to use him for dressage, not jumping.

Hope things resolve as best as possible. Hugs to you both. I can only imagine how flat you must feel. I'm feeling a bit flat too these days, for a host of reasons, so I sympathize in that regard.

[Clare-22]

Oh no so sorry to hear that. But as others have said, just because she has gone lame, doesn't mean it won't all come right again with time. I have found vets tend to give the worse case senario, I think it's because it makes them look good when it all comes right :)

Don't lose hope honey {hugs}

[Purple Hugs]

I'm so sorry to read this Jane. Don't give up...
I'm really sending HUGE hugs for you both though. ((hugs))
Jane x x

[rowdent]

Oh no! Poor poor you, and poor Cherry too of course.. :( But the others are right, don't give up just yet. ((hugs))

[Lexter]

I know how you feel, but look at Lexter, this time last year he was off work, lame and I was told that I might not be able to ride again. We are now riding and working (when I can get into the school but thats a different story) so there is hope. Just give her a nice rest, ride her on a good surface at walk and she will let you know when she is feeling good and bad. Keep you chin up and big hugs to you and Chez from Lex and me x

[RustyMary]

So sorry domane, what bad news. ((((((hugs))))))) and ((((((carrots)))))) from Slovenia

[domane]

Thank you ALL for your good wishes.... just wanted to update you and to say that I RODE MY HORSE TONIGHT!!! And true to form, she didn't just want to walk, thank you very much.... I had to really keep her reined in at one point!!! :p But she felt fine, no odd sensations and we managed a respectable 20 minute "hack" ;)

She's obviously caught onto the "no work" regime as she has taken to cantering over to me when I call her in from the field.... if she is doing this by her own choice I take it as a good sign.

For those who don't know... she injured her rear off tendon in March of last year (before I bought her).... unable to weight-bear and dragging it I've recently found out! She was on a minimum year's recovery, starting with 3m box rest and then was brought back into work by walking in straight lines on good hard roads, increasing up to two hours per day. She then had trotting introduced for small periods, again increasing. By the time she came off box rest she was sound again, but work was taken very slowly and carefully. By the time I bought her last November she was walking and trotting and I bought her on condition that she didn't canter whilst being ridden until March this year, and even then to reintroduce gradually. So I've always erred on the side of caution with her. She tried to canter soooo many times in the school during the winter when other horses went careering past being schooled, when she was finally "allowed" she did a huge buck of relief and has never done one since whilst being ridden, bless her. So everything has been done in moderation because I would rather be cautious and have a sound horse than a lame one, but I have been lucky that she has been able to canter, gallop, jump and generally "keep up with the Joneses" :p And very happily too....

LindaAd - I wouldn't want to put her through surgery as I think her problems stem from the damaged tendon and scar tissue and I'm not sure there is anything they can do about that in itself. She is such a lovely girl that I don't think she deserves to be put through the pain and discomfort. If she has to be retired early to light duties then she does...

Time will tell.....

[LizH]

So sorry to hear about Cherry , perhaps rest will do the trick? The update sounds more positive though. I'm not experienced enough to offer any constructive advice ( as usual!) so I'll just send positive vibes to you both:p :p :p xx

[Montana]

Hi Domane,

My horse is on box rest with a tendon injury at the moment - so you have my sympathies:)

Have you thought about treating this as an entirely new injury - forget about what happened to her in the past, and try to fix this as best as possible before it develops any further?

How about putting her on complete box rest while she's on the bute (if you can get her to take it!).

My horse was starting to recover and it flared up again after a couple of weeks (he spooked really badly when it was windy and we were out on our nightly 10 min walk....twisted and set it off, just as it was healing)

The vet came back out, and told me to treat it almost as unrelated to the first episode - back on bute, box rest and ice packing/cold hosing for 1/2 hour twice a day. The swelling has now gone right down again after a couple of days. He's on the anti inflammatories for a week, then off for a week, still on box rest, with the treatment continuing. I'm not planning on it healing for a good few weeks yet, but I'll hopefully see the end of it after that.

He hasn't gone lame at all through the whole process, so we're hopeful it's a fairly minor tendon sheath inflammation, but even so, with what I've read up on, and what the vets have told me, I'm starting to learn that these things can take a long time to be completely healed:o

Ignore me if I'm way off the mark:rolleyes: I know we have to go with our vets diagnoses on these things! And Cherry's old injury sounds like it was a really severe case:( Just wondered if it might be worth a try?

Do you cold hose after exercise at the moment? Seems to be the miracle cure all to do with tendon related anythings:D

Hope things continue to get better for you both - it's so frustrating isn't it?!:rolleyes:

[Scarlett 001]

Domane, Your message now sounds a bit brighter and more upbeat so this is good news. Gosh, I don't think Skeeter has paid any attention to the fact he has a previous tendon injury - he gallops and messes about in turnout like he is 3 years old. The leg with the tendon injury was the most sound one at the pre-purchase flexion test (if those tests are considered to be revealing in any meaningful way). I suppose if I was jumping, I'd be more worried about that leg.

[HairyCob]

Hon, I've lectured you enough on this via MSN, but I am thinking bout you and Chez, and keeping everything crossed that the vet was being over cautious and covering his back... hope she'll be better once the bute has done it's stuff xxxx

[Whatanejit]

Hiya Jane,

Only just caught up on all this after the vet visit. Poor you and your poor darling Cherry.

Postive vibes from me and Coops in Surrey.

Just thought I would comment on the share thingy though.

Why don't you give them the choice rather than making the decision for them?

Obesity and dodgey feet were my problems with May - caused contributed by owner management - I wouldn't have paid my monthly share money if she was off work as a result of these as I was busting my gut to get her to lose weight and to push some sort of foot care =- even it meant shoeing for a few months.
However, it it was a general wear and tear on an old injury and I contributed to that I would be happy to pay my whack - possibley with a bit of discount depending on the amount time she was not to be ridden.

If it went on into the second month I would definately cut the finance but not sever them but still do my stable duties.

If it went on to a third month then I may have to stop.

Remember how much non horse owners love the taking care of and grooming stuff - not just the riding bit.

Especially as they can pay a part in her rehab - how chuffed will they be when she gets better and they helped you to get her there?

Have another wee think of that one - could help with the vet bills hun.

Either way you will make the correct judgement for you and your girlie.

All the best for now.

xx

~Dee

[Little Dolphins]

I'm really sorry to hear Cherry has a prob. Poor you and poor her:(

Sounds like Chez's spirits are up, tho'!

Really hope things improve gradually and that you can ride her,happy in the knowledge she's OK.

If she has to lead a gentler life, then as you say, so be it. But, hopefully and everything-crossed, it won't come to that ;)

love'n hugs
xxx

PS hope you get the the bute-hating episode sorted!