The follow up and outcome - All is finally getting better

What happens when your horse is NQR for almost 2 months and no one can figure it out? A lot of motivation loss, a touch of depression, a wonder of what you are even doing. Slap all of this onto the shit show of 2020, yeah. You get the idea. So what has happened?  Let me tell you!

Sep 29

This part you already know. Aug 29 the farrier was out. Aug 30 we went on a group trail ride that I will never do again. Sep 2 I had a lesson. As we warmed up, Mia's right front was clicking. Weird. I mentioned it to the trainer, A, and she watched us walk around the arena and listened to the clicking. 

Sep 29

We stopped, chatted, and Mia was dead lame when we tried walking forward. Her legs were all blown up in weird ways, as seen in the last post's pictures. Had the vet out Sep 7, she thought maybe a ligament issue, give her some rest, bute and poultice every day for 2 weeks. Done. That catches you up from my last post.

Hooves pre-trim - sent to farrier Oct 8

2 weeks later? The same. No change. Had the vet out again on Sep 21(?) and had a full lameness done. She said there is no way Mia had ligament issues, as Mia was basically asleep in the cross ties as she was being palpated. Hoof testers pinpointed nothing. Flexions showed nothing. Lunging showed her a .5 or .75 in lameness in the front, but there was nothing obvious. The vet said Mia isn't lame enough to actually diagnose even if we wanted to try more diagnosis like nerve blocks. She said the swelling was distal limb swelling and Mia was likely footsore due to a hoof angle being off. 

Hooves pre-trim - sent to farrier Oct 8

Since 2 weeks of rest/bute/poultice didn't fix her, I should ride conservatively until the farrier is out with the idea of riding her until she is fixed or broken enough to diagnose. If  the swelling doesn't get better after a trim, I should look at putting some sort of supportive shoe on like aluminum or pads. Perhaps Mia has some arthritis that is flaring up and some additional cushion and support would help. *sigh* Okay.

Can you see the issue?

I rode lightly this whole time, and since I couldn't do much, I might as well work on me so I spent about 4 weeks riding bareback. Mostly walk, some trot, mostly in the 20-30 minute mark, mostly in the arena since it is now dark at 630p which is when I get to the barn. I realized I definitely needed that, as my balance was good but some work at it was certainly needed and I felt much better about bareback riding after a couple of weeks. During this time, I would curry/cold hose/liniment/sometimes poultice her legs before and after every ride. Her legs would sometimes look a little better, but most times they looked the same. Swelling that felt thick, was always random, and didn't really go down.

How about now? Her camber is off!

On Oct 8, I rode and took pics of Mia's feet for the farrier so she could see the angles. She said Mia's angles looked fine, Mia had some toe to remove, and her right front needed to come down a little. Fine. For whatever reason, I happened to glance at Mia from the hind end and it was like the curtains parting, the sun shining in a spotlight, and the angels started singing. All of this time and apparently no one, not me, not the vet, no one at the barn, no one looked at Mia's hoof angles from the rear and that was where the issue was obvious.

Post trim, still have a way to go

Several trims ago, the farrier specifically said she was letting Mia's right front outside wall grow to counter something that was happening to her inside. I don't even remember what it was now. In the last trim, I was leaving and didn't micro manage, and didn't notice she hadn't really trimmed the outer wall. Professions are supposed to know what they are doing! This seems to have been the issue this whole time. Mia is traveling at such an angle, her legs became swollen trying to accommodate the slant. 

Oct 21 - swelling almost gone

The farrier was out Oct 10 and we worked on fixing this issue. It will take 1-2 more trim cycles to completely fix it, but I made sure to convey that I wanted Mia level again. Whatever she was trying to do had months to fix and now Mia needs to be level.

Oct 21 - swelling almost gone

There was a slight improvement on Oct 12 and 13th, and then I left on a 5 day trip. On Oct 19? Mia's legs are much, much better. The swelling is no longer thick feeling, it now feels soft and puffy! A huge difference and one I can live with. I fully expect this to take another trim cycle to fully resolve the swelling, as her leg structure has to accommodate the new balance and that simply takes time. The difference just 2 weeks has made though? I'm beyond happy. Mia is now forward again, something I noticed had stopped, and we even took a lesson on Thursday. More on that in the next post, and Pivo updates!