Is it methocarbamol she's on?
Yes - 8 tablets for a week and 5 for another week.
Is it methocarbamol she's on?
I've read Feet First, Barefoot Performance and Hoof Rehabilitation from cover to cover. It just makes so much sense. Ironically, I am a barefoot runner. I have directly experienced the benefits of barefoot running but never related it to horses before. But the science of adaptation and proprioception is identical. So I am planning to transition Amber and Jenny to barefoot asap. Cally & Oscar never wore shoes and had fantastic feet. I evented Cally barefoot and she was fine. I just didn't know how to go from shod to barefoot so have left the others in shoes as they were bought shod. Ginny is trickier as she is in the middle of a treatment 0lan and I don't want to change anything at this stage, but the longer term plan is for her to lose the shoes too. Basically I am an empiricist so if unshod does not work, well fine. We will think again. But I'm going to try.
I'm thinking there is an old injury that's reared its head.
This probably sounds bizarre but vets generally trot in a circle or on the flat on a hard surface. You might find out more with a hill and trying both hard and soft.
It doesn't sound promising, but if it's showing as front end, that's two legs that can be nerve blocked and not four.
What has the physio done?
How do you know she is low mileage? Didn’t she come over from Ireland?? They start them young and hunt and jump before the basics are developed. Many come that can jump the moon but can’t ride a 20m circle well.
Not dissing the Irish at all as they do produce phenomenal hunters etc
Another vet visit. More doom and gloom. She is generally stiff/sore/not moving freely. Main area of pain remains the front end - which we now assume to be coffin joints. No progress at all. Vet expressing concern at how much discomfort she might be in as normally overt lameness is your measure of pain but with her you can't really tell. Feel sick at the thought that she might be still be in significant pain all the time. My vet will liase with Leahurst as he thinks really she needs to go back there for further investigations to try and understand what is going on. Nerve blocking her will tell us how bad each limb actually is without being distorted because all limbs hurt. I'm not prepared to just turn her away for an extended period given the risk that what looks like field soundness is actually masked multi-limb lameness. Don't want to bute her either as don;t wwant her doing more damage running around. But can't keep her in as a) she is stressed when in and b) she has been stiffening up overnight when brought in so she's back out 24/7 as that seems the least bad option. Feeling pretty pessimistic about this now. At the same time I keep thinking she's six!!! And there is no sign of any serious pathology and she has not had any accidents and has never been overjumped etc so how on earth can we be in this situation with such a young, low mileage pony?
Thanks @Mary Poppins.
I think the shoes are meant to take some of the pressure off her feet and are just for comfort while other treatments addressed the inflammation and pain. They have frog supports and extend beyond the heel so the weight is spread over a larger area. I guess the way rehabbed bare feet are naturally? With a weight bearing frog and large digital cushions at the heel? They are the same shoes they often use for lami in the acute phase. But they don't seem to be making her more comfortable. Another question to ask Leahurst! My own vet has also expressed his doubts about the shoes - he was supportive of them to start with but given how things are going he thinks they may not be helping. So he is also going to talk to Leahurst about them too.