Well.... D-Rex goes to Jurassic Park

Here goes! I got up at 4:30 this morning and got out to feed ponies at 5 am. I walked all the way to the front field to find them in the dark.. only to see Dan silhouetted in his stall door. So I walked all the way back up and couldn't find Fleck. And of course, Dan wouldn't go in his stall. So I finally had to get the lead rope and catch him and drag him in. He knew something was afoot! But then he loaded just fine and we headed out. I ended up leaving earlier than I needed to but it was nice to be able to make some pit stops and not be rushed. We got to the University of Tennessee at 10:10 for our 10:30 appointment. I was cracking up. Amanda warned me it was like Jurassic Park. And sure enough.. it's just the gates. Everything else is lovely. But you pull up to these big metal gates and lights start blinking and this siren starts squeaking and... then the gates open. And then you're in a holding pen in front of another set of gates that do the same thing. Hee hee... D-Rex is contained! For now!!! ha ha.. 


Because of Covid, I'm not allowed in the hospital, which really suck as I really wanted to see everything, but.. I get it. They whisked him away from me and I sat in the truck in the parking lot and worked on the schedule and talked to friends. Which, my new truck was great! We got here with no smoke, no overheating, no issues. And fast! I drove about 65-70 the whole way, which.. is not much faster than Sally goes, but... I was at 1.5 rpms instead of on the edge of redlining it, so.. yay for that. And I did hit 75 or so some of the time too. Anyways, the first time Dr. Adair came out to talk to me he explained that Dan, being Dan, was too busy flinging his head around to let the lameness locator work on the front end, but... he was showing lameness in the left hind. Wait, what?! He said no matter what he did, flexions, etc, he could not get him to be lame in the right hind. But flexing the left hind fetlock made Dan very angry and very lame. So... he went back in to do the blocks. The next time he came out he said that he blocked to the fetlock area on the left hind and there was a little bit of lameness on the right front. The right front lameness was worse on hard ground and the left hind lameness was worse on soft ground. He thinks the right front is just soreness from the left hind compensations. Because, when they blocked out the left hind lameness, the right hind also pretty much resolved. He said that the right hind stifle arthritis wasn't too terrible and seemed like we could manage it. His suggestion was to x-ray and ultrasound the left hind and unless there was anything alarming, then keep him overnight to more specifically block the left hind fetlock tomorrow to see whether it was the tendon sheath or the joint. Then we could treat it with an injection and put him back to work. He said he might go ahead and inject the right stifle too and then just see how he does. So I agreed but also asked that he ultrasound the right meniscus for my sanity. 

So... the x-rays and ultrasound of the left hind were unremarkable. Some swelling of the tendon sheath but no obvious tears or problems in the tendons and nothing exciting on the rads. BUT.... see, I knew I got too excited too quick... the meniscus was "gnarly". He was a little shocked that he couldn't make Dan lame on the right hind. He said even considering he's been off work for the month, he's still been yahooing in the pasture and they trotted him an awful lot today and he never showed any lameness. So... he still suggested the same thing, but wants to recheck the right hind in a month and see. It's likely that the left hind is compensatory for the right hind... or maybe vice versa. I think, if my overwhelmed brain is remembering and understanding, that the right stifle is chronic and there's not much luck we'll have success with arthroscopy, but that he may do well with maneagement of it. He also thought that maybe 3rd level dressage was going to be tough, more tough than jumping. But... it's Dan and he also expected him to be more lame so... ??

So then I went to say hi to Dan, who was eating dinner and the little twit pinned his ears at me and backed away from me. Thanks Dan.. thanks. That's embarassing you little twit. Sigh... Oh well. So tonight I'm sleeping in my trailer in their parking lot and then we'll get him blocked in the morning and head home. And then Dr. Molony can inject that fetlock and we'll just have to see how he does. And then, as I was laying down I was thinking that I had packed hay and feed for no reason and Dan seemed to be enjoying the feed they gave him. I was wondering if it was senior or what.. and then I started thinking about the hay and HOLY CRAP!!! IT WAS IN A HAY BAG HUNG FAIRLY LOW!!!!! ACK! So, I called the front desk and the emergency people answered and I asked them to please pull it down and they said they would. Phew! That's all I need. I can't believe I didn't notice it when I was in there... I mean, I did, but my poor tired brain is too tired to register.