Twelve weeks and one day.

Campero on the farm ride. Boots in front because he still feels stones, but we cantered and jumped  a few small things (the photo was supposed to be of him jumping but my friend got it too late). He was out dressaging last week and came second in a Prelim National Qualifier unaffiliated.  It's been an interesting journey.

As things stood when I last posted, his front feet had folded up against themselves and they caused bleeding into the white line at the quarters. He was, of course, a bit uncomfortable for a few days. Then he grew buttresses of horn on the quarters where there was most strain. The horn thickened from the inside, it did not come down from the top (vets and farriers will tell you that horn only grows from the top - nonsense!). He came sound once that was formed and has gone from strength to strength ever since. As far as the naicular goes, he has not been unsound for the last three or more weeks. He can take one or two stiff steps in the morning, particularly with his off fore, which was the worst, but it is gone in a blink. And he hasn't even done that for a week or more now.

The problems we have left are due to his metabolic issues. His feet are flat and he still feels stones on the front too badly to go without boots. On a smooth surface or an arena he is as sound as a pound even on tiny circles.  Over time, things became clearer as to what his foot quality problems are.

As he lost his weight it became apparent that he has significant muscle wastage on the quarters and the chest. This is symptomatic of Equine Polysaccharride Storage Myopathy - an inability of the liver to digest sugars, which instead get converted into glycogen and stored in the  muscles, where they cause muscle damage, wastage and "tying up" on exercise. He tied up with me one day on climbing a big hill, and he ties up when given chemical wormers. He has other symptoms -  he sweats a lot, he can't eat grass, he's "lazy" and he stands with his feet tucked under on the back instead of standing over his feet.

Or he did.

I put him on the EPSM diet - masses of oil  - two brimful mugfulls a day - and vitamin E. He changed immediately and stopped standing under. He's been on it 4 days now and has chest muscle that wasn't there a couple of days ago. All his muscles feel more spongy. His water balances have changed completely, with much wetter poo (no it's not the oil, I tested it, it's water!).  He's definitely less sensitive on stones. On the farm ride today, he did not sweat. I really think that we are on to something.

I'm part way through the process of finding him a loan home. I'm being very picky.

If anyone else has to take on a metabolically challenged navicular case, I'd be glad to share my experiences. Rockley Farm won't take them on, Nic tells me, so I am one of a very few people who has rehabiliated a horse with both conditions and seen what happens from day to day. And I have to say that things happened that I would not believe if I had not seen them for my own eyes. "Impossible" changes in foot angles were a daily occurrence at one point.

So, he's alive. He is sound after every treatment for navicular syndrome failed him. More than that he is happy, healthy, and is going to make someone very happy for another 15 or 20 years.

C