Vet Visit

 Well... pretty much what I thought. Sigh...

I finished work early enough that I probably could have ridden had I hustled, but in my brain I think I thought I had more time. I really needed to go to the chiropractor, so I decided to stop and get lunch and then go back to the Joint. It's just easier and quicker. So I did, but of course I had to fill out paperwork again. I was still out of there in 20 minutes though, so still way faster. And I think Dr. Ryan is back, which is great as he was one of the better ones. And my neck is happier too, so.. it was probably worth it. But that meant I only had exactly an hour from when I got home to when I would have to leave. Which... meant I could do a 30 minute tack up, trail ride, untack and rinse ride at Ashland, or... ride at home, or.... not ride. And when I got home there was a bunch of packages on the porch... all from MWI. Which... I didn't order that much stuff. So I had to investigate and they sent me two extra boxes.. one meant for California and one for Nebraska. Okay... so I had to call them and now I have to print a label and ship it back. Ugh.. So by then I just gave up the thought of riding. Which, sucks but at least I got to ride yesterday. I was really wanting a nice hack in the woods though. Especially since it was cooler today. But it was wet and on and off rain and I'm sure the bugs would still be bad, so... oh well. 

I was going to give him a bath before we went but he wasn't that sweaty at all since it was so overcast. So... we did the cavalettis a few times and then headed to the clinic. I got there for our 3:30 appt but Dr. Barrow wasn't there yet. Doh. No big deal... we hung out and walked around and explored. And I did some pillar 3 work. And then the techs saw me and said that Dr. Barrow was at least 20 minutes out. Sigh... So I adjusted him. Withouth my stool, mallets or stick, but... I did the important parts. Then we explored some more. Dang.. I could have ridden! Heck, I almost was tempted to ask if I could hop on and ride in their arena for a bit. Ha ha. But I didn't want him to get all sweaty, though.. it was slightly tempting to be on him when Dr. B showed up so she could see him go, but... at that point, I just let it go. 

Then Jean showed up with Rob. They had made a rolling cart for the big fans and brought one to Dr. Barrow. Of course when Dr. Barrow got there, shortly after, Jean had to talk to her. Dr. Barrow was great though and managed to excuse herself fairly quickly to work on Dan. Hee hee. I get it!! But also, it's Friday afternoon and I'm sure Dr. Barrow wants to finish up with Dan and go home too! So... we talked and she watched him go. She palpated him and thought his stifle wasn't as effusive as I did. Yay! She did say that she could feel the arthritic changes and the effusion was in the medial femoropatellar pouch area. She flexed him and he only allowed about half the time and was positive on flexion. So we went and looked and she did do steroids and noltrex in the femoral-tibial space but only noltrex in the Femoral-patelllar space, so... we decided to try steroids in there and see what happened. She said that if it helped, we could do arthramid in there next. We also talked about how... I wouldn't be a terrible person if the steroids helped him if I just kept putting steroids in there. It wasn't like we could make that joint that much worse!!! Ugh... 

So... we'll see what happens. I do honestly think his topline looks a little better since we put back shoes on. And the osphos should start kicking in soon. And maybe the steroids will get rid of the inflammation enough that he will be more comfortable moving that limb. She also mentioned that his patella itself looks super and she thought there might be some scar tissue, so she said that my idea of "stretching" him out by flexing and extending that joint before I ride is a good idea. She also suggested DMSO and furacin on the joint before I ride... to "heat" it up. I wonder if the bemer would work the same. I'll have to try something. Maybe even just the red light? Or some other warmed glycerin and dmso or something?? She said it was a "track trick". 

So... I'll just have to let him tell me what he can and can't do and which days and go with that. But it makes it kind of hard to decide on whether I should enter regionals or not.