Amber is lame

[southerncomfort]

Rubbish news. Really sorry for you and Amber. X

 

[scats]

Gutted for you AE. Had exactly the same problem with Tobi.
Sending a hug x

 

[Ambers Echo]

Thanks everyone. It all feels a bit unreal at the moment and I go from thinking she's barely even lame so there can't really be a problem to thinking her eventing career is over. I can't quite believe that the world's best XC horse (imo) won't ever go XC again! But we are not there yet so I am trying to stay positive. Not optimistic exactly but at least in a state not knowing rather than a state of assuming the worst.

 

[Michen]

Thanks everyone. It all feels a bit unreal at the moment and I go from thinking she's barely even lame so there can't really be a problem to thinking her eventing career is over. I can't quite believe that the world's best XC horse (imo) won't ever go XC again! But we are not there yet so I am trying to stay positive. Not optimistic exactly but at least in a state not knowing rather than a state of assuming the worst.

I feel the same about Boggle as I can’t imagine a scenario where he ever hunts properly again, only autumn hunting on perfect ground. After all this careful rehab why would I risk it. And hunting to me comes way before eventing!

Its gutting but at the end of the day I’m sure, like I with Bog, you love Amber for far more than her ability to cart you around an XC and you will be focused on what you can do with her rather than what you can’t. Hopefully the XC will still be doable anyway!

I think you’ll come out the other side of this loving her more than ever even though that probably doesn’t feel possible!

 

[Ambers Echo]

Oh she will definfely find a job! She is already a fab therapy horse for Equine Assisted Therapy as she is a total mirror to her handler. But hopefully she can be my pony partner in other ways too.

 

[Alibear]

I'm sorry the news so far isn't great, I hope the MRI clears up what it is and what your option are. It sounds like you're both in expert hands so I'm sure they'll see you through to recovery. Dolly is going to be a busy little mare in the mean time
Its about a year since I got the bad news and already I have a new main ride in the works and Daisy has surprised the vets with how well she's healing up. So there is hope.

 

[Hormonal Filly]

So sorry to hear that crap news, hopefully theres a good outcome to it! Everything crossed for you.

 

[lme]

I am just about to go through the same thing. My lovely mare (who has a home for life whether or not she comes sound) was lame on her left fore last summer. She was sound after time off and then went lame again. Our vet now suspects navicular syndrome and we are trying to decide whether next step should be to MRI or try steroids.

 

[Ambers Echo]

Bittersweet set of E-rider results. A 65.2 and then a personal best of 67.34 (technically 65.34 but I lose 2 marks for not saying my name on the video!) and some lovely comments. Hopefully dressage is in our future even if jumping isn't.

 

[Roxylola]

Well, that's another 2 professionals who couldn't see lameness so it must have been really subtle, dont beat yourself up.
Good results for you though

 

[Ambers Echo]

Thanks. I was dreading getting comments like 'unlevel' or other code words for 'you are riding a lame horse'.
My RI now says Amber has always had the odd step or 2 that looks iffy but then seems to recover and be fine again. So maybe the issue has been bubbling away at a very low level for a long, long time. Who knows. At the moment they are not doing MRIs for sports injuries. So I am in limbo for now.

 

[ITPersonnage]

Oh poor you, but well done on the marks, keep your chin up

 

[Goldenstar]

Abnormal xrays. Navicular bone looks ragged. Vet thinks DDFT injury running into foot. MRI to confirm or rule out.

Oh no that’s awful news.
Hope you don’t have to wait to long for the MRI

 

[milliepops]

I hope you can fix her up and get back to the jumping but if not, it's not so bad on the dark side x what a total bugger about having to wait for the MRI.

 

[emfen1305]

Sorry to hear your bad news. I don't have an eventer by any means but I have a cob went lame in September. He had been ok all summer going out and about doing dressage but had a tendency to drop his shoulder and wasn't really improving in our dressage scores so I got a work up and ended up going down the MRI root as blocked to the foot but x-rays were clean. The MRI showed really awful degeneration of the bone in the right fore, so much so that an unrelated vet who did his first shockwave whilst my vet was on holiday thought she was doing the wrong horse when he walked off the box as happy as larry so images and what's in front of you don't always tell the same story! Both of the farriers that have seen him (my normal farrier and the vet farrier) think its a congenital condition and poor shoeing before i got him might have been enough to tip him over the edge

I know the preferred route for navicular is barefoot however i think ycbm posted earlier on that shoes will be recommended and if you are bound by insurance then that's the route you have to follow so i did! He had the kitchen sink thrown at him, steroids, shockwave, tildren, shoes with a central plate and then the winter off and came back in Jan feeling fab and before lockdown was seeing an improvement everyday and our dressage scores jumped from low 60s to mid 70s so fingers crossed for you and it's not as bad as it seems!

 

[Rosemary28]

Rubbish news AE, I'm sorry to hear that.

 

[muddy_grey]

So sorry to hear this. My mare had surgery on a high ddft tear (fetlock height) and the surgeon was pretty negative 50/50 she would be sound. That was 2 1/2 years ago and she is now back jumping and competing. I hope you get a similar outcome and know how hard it is to not spiral. I say at least I don't have to feel like I am not good enough for her anymore, she ruined herself

 

[Ambers Echo]

Overdue update. MRIs weren't being offered in April - vet was suggesting it might be 3 months - so we decided to try time and Dr Green instead. She has been fine in the field. Playful, active. Her movement looked great so I honestly believed she would be sound at the next assessment. But today she was trotted on a tight right circle and there has been no improvement at all in that front right foot.

MRI is now going ahead so at least we know for sure one way or another. I have been warned that there may be no treatment options identified by the MRI. But if it's bad news at least I will know.

I thought I was realistic about the fact that this injury could be career ending. I cried buckets and then I bought Toby. But I now realise that I never truly believed this would be how our story ends. Toby was my till-Amber-gets-better project. Not my instead-of-Amber horse. No other horse has ever given me feel and the sheer joy that she did. It was a total privilege to ride her.

Gorgeous Girl:

 

[Wheels]

I'm really sorry to hear there is no improvement. I hope the MRI shows it is something that can be resolved

 

[southerncomfort]

Oh I am sorry that it's not better news.

However unlikely it is, im still going to pray that whatever it is is fixable.

ETA ginger girls are the absolute best. X
X

 

[BBP]

I’m really sorry to hear that. I’m also in the midst of hard times, and the knowledge I will not ride him again. If he doesn’t have to be PTS then it means I may never ride again, as I can’t afford a second horse.

 

[DabDab]

Sorry to hear that AE. Fingers crossed you get better news at the MRI ?
She is a very special horse. Just such rotten luck

 

[scats]

Gutted for you AE, but got everything crossed for you that its something fixable xx

 

[lme]

Having gone through the same thing with my mare who has a similar injury (MRI was in May) I am now OK with the fact that I might not be able to ride her again and she appears to be adapting happily to her new (semi feral) lifestyle.

 

[Michen]

How lame Actually was she AE? 1/10 on a hard circle?

 

[ITPersonnage]

Sorry to hear that AE, and sorry BBP too. Rubbish luck for both of you. Why are they so damned breakable ? Have a hug anyway.

 

[Roxylola]

Oh that's gutting. I'm so sorry, at least shes happy and moving freely out though

 

[Ambers Echo]

How lame Actually was she AE? 1/10 on a hard circle?

She's only ever been mildly lame. But not getting any better.

 

[Michen]

She's only ever been mildly lame. But not getting any better.

Well Boggle has been checked religiously every 6 months for 3 plus years. He is “sometimes” not quite level on a hard circle on his right fore. It’s also the one he lands outside first in if we don’t keep a really close eye on it. My vet has always said it’s so minor it wouldn’t even be picked up on a vetting. It has never got worse even when he was hunting twice weekly and he’s never been positive go flexion in front etc.

I’m not saying it’s nothing as know you have x rays but does she land level on both front feet? And is it only on a hard circle?

 

[Asha]

Sorry to hear this .

My vet was saying something similar to Michen the other day when discussing mild lameness . Try and stay positive, as hard as it may feel right now . Hope you get some answers soon.