We wait ......
Zippy did some lovely lateral work today, and some absolutely phenomenal leg yield. After a bit of a jumpy start with the cold saddle, he was super. He's another natural piaffe horse, like Tetley. He is unsettled in the halt, as many 3 year olds would be, and if you make him wait too long, he starts to piaffe, just like Tetley did. I won't let him of course, at his age. I learnt my lesson there with Tetley. Who knows if it contributed to his hock problem?
Jazz is sounder today than when he came in last night, but that means nothing unless you have an obvious drain hole, which we don't. I feel the need of an explanation, for people reading this who don't know me so well.
Why am I not calling a farrier if he has a foot problem?
- I don't have a farrier, I trim for myself.
Why am I not calling a vet if he has been lame for over a week (on and off)?
- Because this is how abcesses are. They can be "on and off" for several weeks before they consistently make the horse lame. And until it is consistently lame, quite severely at that, it is almost impossible to find the source of the problem. When you can pinpoint a sore spot, a vet will often dig away a substantial part of the sole in an attempt to get it out. This may well relieve the immediate pain, but it leaves the horse lame for much longer, waiting for the hole to heal over. In the worst cases (I've had one) proud flesh can grow out of the hole and then you have a fight to kill it off and get the sole to close. Antibiotics are, to use the medical expression, contra-indicated in foot abcesses, especially if it is not draining and has not infected the leg. I know the signs if the infection has got into the bloodstream and it's very unusual in foot abcesses. So, the advice I take is to leave it alone and let the infection punch a way out where it can. In Jazz's case, the heat in the heel bulbs is strongly suggestive that it will come out through the join between the frog and the heel (a weak spot) if it breaks out at all. That would leave an easily treatable hole in his heel, which is a far better outcome than a deliberately cut hole in his sole.
Meanwhile, he is turned out in the cold wet mud again today, and we wait and see what happens.
C
posted by cptrayes @ 3:01 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
Some of the trainers do teach the piaffe to youngsters. Not to work them hard in it, but just to teach them the concept and then when the time comes, it's easy for them to learn how to do it well.
Right on about Jazz and the abscess. I didn't call my vet about Chance until his leg swelled up. Of course when the vet got there like the next day, the abscess had broken open so the trip wasn't necessary after all. Best to let nature take its course. Frustrating, though.
Re Tuck and his hock. My vet has told me before it is very common for dressage horses going to the upper levels to have sore hocks. Had the same issue with Toby. Usually the Adequan solves the problem without any invasive action. The interesting thing is, most horses also just keep working even when they are sore. I just happen to have a very "expressive" Thoroughbred who has to make it clear he has an issue. I keep telling him my knees REALLY hurt, and I keep going, but he doesn't seem impressed. Will ride him soon today. Might even been an improvement already--or not. And, he is just turning 8.
What lesson did you learn about Tetley and piaffe? That he will do it instead of the halt/salute in a dressage test? Or just hock soundness?
ML
Fingers crossed with Tucker Jean.
ML if I'd known that Tetley would have hock problems before he was ten I would never have let him piaffe at four. I never did much of it, but you can't get the thought out of your mind about whether it had any effect. That, and working such a big, big horse in such a small, small barn when he was young. But then, it was probably all the jumping big fences, and he enjoyed that so much I would have done it anyway! I wouldn't worry about doing it now, he's 12 this year and a minute or two piaffe if he offers it won't do him any harm.
C
Caroline did you try the Hepar Sulph to bring the abcess to a head?
Cassie
I agree an abscess will burst through when its good and ready just a pity when things are going so well..mmm minus the tantrum yesterday.
Its easy in hindsight to question what you've done but im sure Tetley enjoyed every minute of his time with you!
I thought it was gone Cassie, he was sound for three days. Is it Hepar Sulph homeopathic? (I have to confess to a fairly big amount of scepticism about homeopathy...)
Nicola he certainly seemed to enjoy life - and Mary Lou told me a week or so ago that he tried to get in someone's lorry, so he obviously remembers enjoying going places :-)
C
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