Love

 I must really love this horse. ;) Of course I do!

We drove 5 hours on Monday to see Dr. Kate again. Because... I don't know what else to do. And I'm so glad we did! It was a good visit. My shockwave machine came two days ago so I packed it up too. It rained the entire way there, but luckily had stopped mostly by the time we got there. We got there right at 5 pm so I basically unloaded him, fed him, and left. They were closing and I felt bad. Sorry bubs!! He had plenty of hay though and neighbors to keep him company. 

 

Luckily she had a cancellation at 9:30 so I was able to take that spot instead of having to wait unitl 12:30. Yay! I got there a bit early and snuggled with Dan for a bit. Then Dr. Kate looked at him. He was grumpy about palpation near his shoulder blades and withers. They did say that his body condition looked good. So then Julie took him out for a lunge. I reminded her about his tricks but she's tough. Dan pouted because she wouldn't let him play. He tried though. Ha! So.. he looked pretty decent trotting but Date noticed that he was dragging his hind toes. Yep. Maybe a hair better after I injected his LS but... still dragging. Sot hen he cantered right. Not bad. But he was hopping into it. Then he went left. And oh it was bad. He had no bute or previcox on board... had been in a stall all night after being in a trailer all day. He was struggling. He fell out of it. He looked labored. And his upwards sucked. Oh, and while lunging, even at the trot, he tripped up front a lot. 

We headed back to the barn and Kate said that she thought his pelvis/lower back was the culprit. It's been over a year since we had done it. She said that she thinks he's tripping because he's trying to get off his hind end and is falling on his forehand. The dragging toes, the struggles with the canter... all fit. So Abby started scrubbing him. I told her that I had bathed him yesterday morning before we left. And she was still working hard to get him clean. In fact, he didn't pass Kate's standards so he had to get a second bath. Doh! While he was getting his first bath though, Kate was walking me through the shockwave treatments and wrote down all her protocols for me! YAY!! I also picked her brain about things regarding it, like.. how to store it, how to clean it, and contraindications. I'm getting so excited about it. 

So then Dr. Kate injected his facets, his LS, the sides of his LS, and then the told me to scrub in! Oooh... She let me inject his hypaxials at the transverse wings. She said to go to L6/L5. then walk off to the side where the muscle divots (basically 2 cun) and then you can feel the "hole" which was also an acupuncture point too. So then you drop the 4" spinal needle down into the muscle... until you bounce off the wing of the transverse process. Then you walk it off the bone and fall into the space between the two transverse processes. And you inject the sarrapin. (10 ccs on each side). She had me do it in 3 spots on each side. So the L6/L5, L5/L4, and L4/L3. Though they get more reactive the more cranial you go. And sure enough, the last one I did, he flinched hard... and the needle bent a bit. But he stood. And he was only mildly sedated at this point. Of course I made him bleed too. Doh. Sorry dude... white horse, so of course he'll bleed.

 

So then I pulled my shockwave out and hooked it up and we did his neck. She showed me how to do the first side and then I did the second side. Yay... Dan christened my shockwave. :) That thing is loud. But he really seemed to enjoy it and leaned it a bit. 

Then we hauled home. He gets two days off, a week of groundwork and then back to work. And then I'll just plan on back injections every year and neck injections every 6 months.