Needy

 Daniel has been needy today and yesterday! I went out to catch Lyric last night and he was all up in our business and almost knocked me out with his head. Then was trotting to stay with us. I think maybe he just thought I had more cookies.... But then today he was extra needy too. He was following me around the pasture and all up in my space. But with happy friendly ears and he wasn't throwing his butt at me for scratches. Weirdo! But man I do love him. Maybe, just maybe, he's trying to tell me he loves me too? 

 

Today was sooooo darn hot and I had a massage appt for myself this morning. My arm is feeling awful so I found a good sports therapy massage therapist. And it was awesome! So hopefully she can fix me! But by the time I finished that, got adjusted and then got the recycling dropped off... I didn't quite have enough time to take Dan to ashland for a ride before Dr. Barrow showed up for our vet appt. So... I decided that since it was so hot too, we would just do groundwork. His posture has sucked lately. So we did. We went to the arena and played. And he was a goober. We did our pillar walking and worked on him yielding to the halter pressure. He was getting better with it. We also played with the poles and then I tried to get him to yield his body around me but he thought I was trying to lunge him so he grabbed the lead rope a few times and took off. But I didn't get upset... I just tried to lure him back in with my "come here" cue and it worked. He was really more engaged today with me than usual. He wanted to play! But not just his games. So we had fun!

Then he got a rinse because even though it does NOT feel like Fall these last two days, he has embraced the Pumpkin Spice theme and had a neon orange butt! After, I let him hang out in the stall with some hay to cool off and dry off for Dr. Barrows. 

  

 

I pulled him out and explained where we were with things and we talked. We ended up ultrasounding his left proximal suspensory and... no tears. Just lots of chronic calcification/fibrosis and irritation. She said that it wasn't even that big/inflamed, so.. in her opinion, she didn't think the retinaculum cutting surgery was going to be that helpful for him. Which... phew, in a way. I'd really have to think hard before doing another surgery for him. I just... don't know if we have it in us. We talked about renovo and she said that she felt like renovo was better for regeneration... and he didn't really need that. She suggested we just throw some steroids in there and see what happens. If it holds him for a good 4 months... then maybe we can try something else at that point... whether it's renovo, PRP (probably more her choice at that point) or even some bone marrow stuff. So... although I'm still slightly wondering if I should have done renovo... just because others seem to rave about it... we did the steroids. He was a super good boy. She got him drunk as a skunk though. Ha ha! Rompin did him in. Oh, and we did foot rads before we did his ultrasound. He looks pretty good up front... and neutral behind. But we did talk about how he's twisting out of his shoes, so... I think we decided that perhaps instead of a denoix.. or even a steel shoe with a toe plate... maybe we just do a pour in pad... that would "float" his toes, and also keep him from twisting out of them hopefully. And give him caudal support. So... she'll talk to Patrick so... back in shoes next week. I'm so glad I spent money on those denoixs... then another $50 to get Russel to put one back on and then take one back off! Oh, and he is missing his clip on one, so maybe it wasn't even in his foot! Sigh... but it was twisted... 

 

Anyways... He was a good kid and snuggly again that evening when I turned the girls back out after their shockwave. He'll get his last shockwave again soon too. And hopefully the shockwave, the shoes, and the steroids will get him feeling good again. And then maybe, just maybe, I can keep him feeling good without him self-destructing again!