6-8 weeks of box rest begins!

I received a phone call from Peter Scholefield as we were driving back from Halifax on Thursday evening. I wanted to take her some feed up and another rug because the temperature suddenly dropped and she is very sensitive to cold weather.

Peter explained that he no longer thought it was a stifle problem as there was just not enough improvement when nerve blocked. When he moved to the hock, the nerve block improved things by 85% and when he blocked just the suspensory ligament there was a 100% improvement! So, the hocks were scanned, showing clean joints, but when he scanned the ligament he found inflammation and pain at the root of the ligament.

Grace is now on six to eight weeks of box rest, and can start being walked in hand in four weeks time. She is receiving shock wave therapy once a week, and I have bought an Equissage to keep her muscles toned, her joints healthy and her lymphatic system in good working order. Since I started using the Equissage, her back legs have not filled once even though she is stood in 24/7 and is not getting any movement on them.

She is getting a bit stressed about being in, but I am keeping her routine exactly the same so that she can settle a bit more which seems to be working. The Equissage is chilling her out too, although for the first five minutes she stands stiff not daring to move J

The next shock wave therapy treatment will be on Friday, so we are off to Halifax again!

Grace has stayed over in Halifax

This morning, Grace and I (accompanied by my husband Andy) set off to Halifax for an appointment with Peter Scholefield. The traffic was absolutely dreadful at that time in the morning, and we ended up being on the road for almost two hours. I was worried that Grace would be a bit stressed when we got there, but I need not have worried. We unloaded her and apart from being a little figgety to start with, she behaved impeccably.

Peter wanted to see her walked in a straight line and then trotted. He noticed that her left side was dropping ever so slightly, so flexioned both hocks. These were negative thankfully! However, he agreed that there was something there and I was not imagining this strange movement.

Grace was then lunged on both legs and Peter said she was showing lameness on both reins on the left hind and he suspected the stifle. He then nerve blocked this area and believed there to be an improvement, but could then see a slight uneven step every so often on the right hind. At this point Peter told me she would be staying with them over night as he wanted to continue the investigations.

I was really sad to leave her, it is the first time I have left her anywhere since she came to me last year. But Grace was happy as she had lots of haylage and her loving Mum had taken her PJs and her dinner and breakfast just in case!

I phoned the practice this evening and spoke to one of the ladies who work there. She said Grace was eating her tea, quite happy and Peter was hoping to continue his investigations tomorrow morning. He has also nerve blocked her hock (I didn’t really get much information as they were quite busy) and there was some improvement with this too. So, although I still do not have an answer, hopefully by tomorrow I will have some news whether it be good or bad.

A spanner in the works

Grace and I have been having a really successful few weeks and everything has been going to plan. I took her over to Arkenfield for a lesson with Spencer and I could tell immediately that he was not happy with something. He asked me to give her a canter and get her stepping under but when she came back to trot he said he could see something strange going on in her left hind.

Spencer asked me whether I had seen anyone riding her and I said no, so he offered to get on her and ride her for me. As soon as he started trotting her I could see it on the left rein, but there was no evidence of it at all in the walk or canter. The lady who organises the clinics with Spencer recommended a vet over in Halifax who specialises in lameness problems so she is booked to go over to him on Wednesday morning at 8.30am.

Because I have had an operation to remove two lumps from my neck I am having to take it very easy this weekend, but Peter Scholefield wants Grace riding hard until he sees her on Wednesday. Luckily, the lady who looks after the horses for me when I go away is able to ride her for me Saturday, Sunday and Monday. This morning it was very interesting watching someone riding her because it has given me more of an idea what is going on. She started off really showing the unlevel steps in the trot, but Yvonne said she was really leaning on the left leg and was heavy in the left hand (my weaker side). She worked very hard on getting her to move away from that leg and come soft in the left hand, and by the end there were no strange steps in the trot at all. So whatever it is improves with work.