Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

   aahhh. His not mine, thanks
    Vet was out to give Rascal his West Nile (which I agonized 
over--supposedly EPM horses aren't to be 'stressed" so advice by others is 
to give vaccinations singily and spread out. He was due in July, but wanted 
to let his immune system catch up from the EPM.in May). He did fIne . I'd 
told the vet  about his continued layoff  because of the hoof abbcess, that 
I'd soaked and  that he gradually got better. The farrier came out at the 
end of the front lamenes abcess and said , 'yeah, he's had one ',where we 
thought.Put front shoes on him (what we have always done because of  rocks, 
had just shod him  all way round 2x before epm.)
  So I started riding him a bit again last week,rehab time , slow at a walk 
over ground poles, serpentines, a spiral in, then a spiral out, then a "what 
was that? step" (a  slight stagger step  as I turned him the other way. like 
when you are dizzy).But then ok. I could feel  his back end 'stepping down 
harder'. Finally decided it was like he'd ,'lost  his springingness' in the 
rear.(course it was a bit hard to try to figure as I'd been working with 
Honey and they have very different gaits and I hadn't been on him ,but twice 
 since May.)
   So I closed my eyes, (as I told the vet this , he gave a laugh. I 
quickly defended myself, saying " for an unprofessionally trained horse, 
he's actually pretty good', or some such nonsense.
  Anyway, I rode him with my eyes closed to feel him better, and I detected 
what I thought was a slight rotation still in his R rear(he'd dropped and 
rotated his hip like a puppet when he had  epm)
   So the vet looked at him and said he has some muscle atrophy on his 
right butt cheek. I asked him what would help that besides what I was doing 
. He said right circles.
  Now I also know maybe riding  hills, when we can work up to it will 
probably help, but any other arena exercises? I do have to build carefully 
without overtiring him.
  Vet thinks there is good chance he will recover fully. Have about a year 
for 'en-nervation" to occur, and grow into the space where the muscles lost 
their original supply.He only has a slight gait abberation now, but seems 
quite possible that may disappear. he was only Grade 1 lame of 4 grades when 
we caught it.And 60% recover from epm with treatment at least a grade.
  Of course he gets a week off for his West Nile shot.Again, everyone sys 
to back off of piling up stresses the first 6-12 months.Then we start back 
with 15-20 min. at a walk.Or less if he sweats under the pad.   
Laurie/Rascal/HOney/Scout

_________________________________________________________________
Instant message with integrated webcam using MSN Messenger 6.0. Try it now 
FREE!  http://msnmessenger-download.com


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp

Ride Long and Ride Safe!!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=