Arthritis, blah

[Caol Ila]

As some of you know, Gypsum went quite lame in early-mid January and I thought it was an abscess, but to make a long story short, two vets and one farrier later, it turned out not to be an abscess but rather something in the pastern joint -- either a sprain or an arthritis flare up. Vet prescribed ten to fifteen minutes per day of handwalking, alongside her fairly limited turnout, so that is what I have been doing.

The good news is that she's not lame. Yay. The bad news is that she has a pronounced twist in her right hind when you lead her through squidgy ground, or hardpack or slippy snow. She's had a slight twist for a while, but it was definitely not this dramatic at the beginning of January. The increased severity is a new development. I was hoping to get her back under saddle, even if it's only for super light hacking a few times per week, but now I don't know. She is a complex horse to retire. Moving yards is like playing Russian Roulette. If she doesn't like a yard, she fencewalks, and this is the first yard in a long time with an empty chamber. If your horse can't be in a herd (and she can't), they only get two hours of turnout per day. They gets tons of turnout if they are happy in a herd, but that's neither here nor there for her.

Additionally, you have to sedate her in order to get her on a lorry or trailer, so that's fun too.

I just don't see how you can have a retired horse on two hours of turnout per day. But retirement livery seems like a minefield that will probably blow up in my face, and shipping a quirky horse to some distant retirement yard seems crazy.

I'm calling the vet tomorrow for our weekly chat, but I just feel a bit hopeless tonight. I have thrown everything at her this past year, but I can't seem to stop the inevitabilities of aging (I suppose if I could, I would be able to have my own retirement yard).

 

[PapaverFollis]

If she's happy in herself with the limited turnout then I wouldn't apply general rules about what retirement should look like to a specific case. You could take her for in-hand walks still if she's field sound?

 

[milliepops]

I think with the tricky ones you have to throw out the rule book and just do what suits them, even if that means they don't last as long as they perhaps would if they read the rules. It's tough but I think the only sensible approach.

So I'd do whatever the least worst is, which sounds like limited TO on her terms, topped up with whatever kind of exercise you can give her. And give yourself time to come to terms with it, to still have been in work at 27 is pretty fortunate and unusual so she's obviously done well living her way. I wouldn't look to try and force something in the hope it will give her extra years if it's just going to make her stressed.
Quality over quantity and all that.
Hope you can find a way forward that works for you both.

 

[ester]

what do you mean by hardpack?

I'm not sure how worried I'd be about a twist in an otherwise sound enough oldie.

I certainly wouldnt' be moving her given how she has been before, and am with MP in that re. doing what suits.

 

[Caol Ila]

Sorry, skiing/mountaineering terms. Snow that's been mashed down by skiiers/vehicles so it's really hard and slidey.

Are twists not the end of the world? Back in December, she was moving with the surefootedness of a polar bear across ice and snow, but today, when we had to cross it for our walk, she was losing her foot to the side. Our walk was not very long.

 

[ester]

I thought that might be what you meant, or it might have been an americanism for hardcore or something that you'd held onto.

I don't think twisting on pants surfaces would concern me in an old horse, more than it just being something I would keep an eye on.

 

[PapaverFollis]

Edited my post to make more sense. My phone is an optimist and constantly autocorrect wouldn't, shouldn't, couldn't to would should could!

 

[Caol Ila]

She was lively today and tried to get away from me on our walk. I reminded her that she is 27 and way too old for this sh1t. Updated the vet's voicemail. Told him that we should maybe think about how we can bring her back to some level of work. She still wants a job. If she could hack out like two or three days per week, I'd be delighted.

 

[Caol Ila]

Ugh, the ups and downs of this are ridiculous. After her antics last week, I gave it the weekend to thaw, and then got on her today. She had been resting her right hind again in the stable, which should have been a red light. She felt like crap. I only rode for 10 minutes, walking up the road, but nothing felt right, so I bailed. She just felt unlevel and weak and like she wasn't enjoying it. I had reduced her Danilon by half, as she was feeling so well, but I put it back to where it was.

The Prascend is also not doing as much as I'd hoped to keep weight on. And being off work and in a stall 22 hours per day has led to so much muscle wastage. I just changed her feed to Allan and Page Sooth and Gain and increased the amount of haylage (rather than hay). The yard gives her a linseed mash, but she seems to have on and off days with that.

Don't know what to do. Other than see if she's brighter tomorrow, like she was last week.

 

[FinnishLapphund]

Fingers crossed, I hope she's brighter today.

 

[Annagain]

Monty's had a twist in his left hind for the 20 years I've known him. It's never caused him any trouble other than throwing hoof boots off when his feet were so bad he couldn't keep shoes on so we tried him barefoot with boots. It was a disaster but a change of farrier sorted the shoeing issue. He never scored highly for his walk in dressage tests but it was far less of an issue in trot and canter and didn't stop him getting 70%+ regularly.