Does this clinic make my butt look fat?

So says the mare over her shoulder.



Yesterday morning, I got up SUPER MEGA ULTRA early to clean stalls at home (3:45am I mean), headed over to the barn, groomed the Queen Bee, and tossed her on the trailer to make the trek up to see the other Dr. C, my regular vet. I've kept her on this case because she knows this mare and knows her history, and has done a great job with her. Now that we've moved and she doesn't come out this far for farm calls, it is a little bit of a journey to get there with mare in hand, but worth it. We were a little late due to torrential rains, but made it safe and sound. The procedure was quick - lightly sedated her, scrubbed the leg, and injected the sheath with Hyalovet (hyaluronic acid). A 'light sedation' for Gogo, however, is a right knock-out... she is such a lightweight! Within moments, her head dropped to the floor, puddles of drool dribbling from her hanging lips, legs swaying, knees buckling! I half thought she was going to fall over. The procedure was very fast, and with a little bit of help, we hoisted her back into the trailer and let her wake up a little before continuing on the journey home.

With a little luck, putting a little HA into the tendon sheath will quiet everything down, settle the inflammation, and keep any more adhesions from forming. Looking at the location of the injury, and the history with possible adhesions.. that really just had to be it. The lesion is sitting right at the edge of the tendon - if an adhesion was between the sheath and tendon and it ruptured, it very well could have made a little tendon-crater there.

But I also have good news. I asked Dr. C about turning her out and/or breeding her, and I think she was trying to keep her head from spinning! She essentially just told me no, which secretly was what I was hoping to hear. Having looked at the ultrasounds, she told me this injury was minor enough that it is in her best interests to continue on with controlled exercise and getting her back under saddle, and I agree. I mean I certainly wasn't going to turn out a horse with a fresh tendon injury, but I had thought maybe in a month or so it would be all right to do, maybe. Still, I was practically waking up in a cold sweat thinking about all the horrible things that can go wrong when recovering tendons move too much, or unexpectedly. I wish I had a picture of a mare I knew who had done a similar injury to a front SDFT. The owner said to turn her out instead of resting, so they did, and the resulting major deformity was painful to look at every day. After it had "healed", she stood on her toe, leg completely crooked, and hobbled painfully around. And she is now very dead. A little bit scary to think about. Honestly, turning tendon injuries out is an archaic practice. I had to say it, but I do know it and always have. Maybe I was just having a moment of weakness. One wrong move on a recovering tendon and boom! there's your whole eventing career GONE. Whole riding career. Whole life, maybe. That's what happened to Metro.

Instead, I received Dr. C's advice and breathed a sigh of relief. I really do think it is best at this point to get Gogo back up and running again, at a slower pace than before but with the same end goal. We'll continue on with our two months of handwalking and stall rest, and reevaluate the legs at the end of May. The end of May... wow. At the end of May last year, I had already won two events. That is really sad to think about.

Next year, Gogo. We can do this.



(PS - I also just found out that the woman I was going to do the trade with is now calling me all sorts of nasty crazy names because of the fact that I called and told her I was going to follow my vet's advice and keep her in versus turn her out. I know she was waiting to her her voodoo holistic hands all over my horse but seriously lady? Glad I didn't take her up on the offer in the end anyway!)