Ed the ex-racer

When it rains it pours 😢 very woe is me post today.

We lost our gorgeous little Persian cat Timmy very suddenly on Friday to what the vets think was a brain tumour 😭
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Get down the yard this morning hoping for a nice hack and Ed is horribly lame behind with a hot, fat leg. He’s got a slightly weeping cut so think it’s a touch of cellulitis. I’ve cleaned, bandaged and buted so 🤞🤞 But not what I needed today!
 
Got some exciting news this evening- Ed and I have been shortlisted for sponsorship from Olivia Oakeley!

The sponsorship is a year’s worth of lessons, some personal training and a sports massage. I think this would make such a difference for Ed and I and really help us progress :)

If you get the chance, a like of our picture and my comment would be fantastic!
https://www.facebook.com/335585669792250/posts/2505167156167413

As a thank you, here’s some cute puppy photos 😍6D895F42-F529-469A-B6B9-37C36C52ABAF.jpeg938F8CBF-3726-4683-853B-65B664E78F86.jpegA77405F5-3134-433A-9F49-4BF320CB9237.jpeg
 
MotherOfChickens said:
well done for getting on the shortlist and fingers crossed for you :)

I am sorry about Timmy, he looked to be a real character.

your pup is scrumptious!
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Thanks MotherofChickens :)

It is very strange in the house without Timmy and I miss him alot, but we are enjoying Roxie and she's good fun too.
 
Some vibes needed for Ed please.

He’s been a bit on and off for a while and is showing signs of being uncomfortable somewhere so we’re off to Liphook (my regular vets so not a scary referral) on Friday to have a workup.

He feels like he’s just lost power- you can give him the rein out hacking and ask for a gallop and he just won’t go, and has got quite reluctant to move forward into medium trot/canter as well.

I feel like it’s something in the hind end and potentially ulcers coming back as well, although he does look well at the moment he has got super spooky.

We’ve been doing some light hacking and enjoying the beautiful autumn colours :)
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And I’ve had Roxie to keep me entertained! She’s doing so well; chilled in the house, great with other dogs and is brilliant around the horses.
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Thought I'd do an update on Ed- took him to Liphook for a workup last Friday and had an absolute nightmare!

Lorry broke down on the way (flat battery hadn't charged enough when I stopped for Diesel) and the first 6 people I asked wouldn't help me jump start! Someone did try which was lovely, but we couldn't get the lorry started so called recovery.

Ed was brilliant and stood quietly on the lorry for 2 hours at the petrol station until we got going again and Liphook were fantastic and moved the day around to fit us in still.

Diagnosis after some nerve blocks and x-rays is arthritis in both hocks. Slightly gutted as he's only 7, but it was the least-worse thing on my list of possibilities.

Plan is this week light work walk & trot, introduce Pessoa-ing and pole work again and build him up slowly and encourage him to use his hind end again. At the moment he's still not feeling quite right, but is so much more forward so I guess that's progress!

Any hints/tips for managing a horse with arthritis would be great! :)

The post wouldn’t be complete without a picture of him as he’s too handsome 😍FD116AB2-B571-4558-A7D8-0463FF4398B5.jpeg
 
So sorry to hear about the diagnosis- it’s so disheartening when they are young. I’ve got two horses, both with hock arthritis. One has had it since 10, he is now 18, full of life and fire! The other was diagnosed this summer, and went out and won two dressage classes in two outings this month. So there is hope yet! I manage them both in a similar way- both get cider vinegar and suppleaze gold in their feed. Turnout every day for a decent length of time. Leg wraps when it is cold, quarter sheet on to warm up. My ridden boy gets a equilibrium back massage before every ride which really helps him. He has cartrophen every few months, and recently had his hocks injected which has really helped. I don’t jump really, and I only do fast work on a decent soft surface. I don’t lunge on tight circles, and I use long slow warm ups to get his hocks moving including plenty of stretching, gentle leg yields, turn on the forehand etc. Sorry this was a very long post- I hope some of it’s useful. Hope things start to look up soon- my boy has most of the summer off, and wasn’t back in full work until October, but is now going better than ever, it was worth taking the time.
 
NinjaPony said:
So sorry to hear about the diagnosis- it’s so disheartening when they are young. I’ve got two horses, both with hock arthritis. One has had it since 10, he is now 18, full of life and fire! The other was diagnosed this summer, and went out and won two dressage classes in two outings this month. So there is hope yet! I manage them both in a similar way- both get cider vinegar and suppleaze gold in their feed. Turnout every day for a decent length of time. Leg wraps when it is cold, quarter sheet on to warm up. My ridden boy gets a equilibrium back massage before every ride which really helps him. He has cartrophen every few months, and recently had his hocks injected which has really helped. I don’t jump really, and I only do fast work on a decent soft surface. I don’t lunge on tight circles, and I use long slow warm ups to get his hocks moving including plenty of stretching, gentle leg yields, turn on the forehand etc. Sorry this was a very long post- I hope some of it’s useful. Hope things start to look up soon- my boy has most of the summer off, and wasn’t back in full work until October, but is now going better than ever, it was worth taking the time.
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Thanks so much for replying- great to hear about a couple of horses doing well! :) Hopefully Ed will be relatively easy to manage as he lives out so gets lots of movement.

Interesting about the Apple Cider Vinegar- what does that do for arthritis, I've not heard of it?

The vet has said he thinks dressage will be harder for him, but he thinks there is no reason he shouldn't come back to what we were doing before (novice dressage, very low level eventing and some SJ) so fingers crossed!
 
Ed had the vet back out today as although he's been a lot more forward, he's also been quite tense and unsettled since he had the hock injections and I was concerned that he was still uncomfortable.

The vet is actually very happy with his hind legs and he is moving so much better. However, as we have changed his way of going so much he is using his muscles very differently and he is has very sore muscles across his back, shoulders and neck. Vet recommended some acupuncture so we did that today and he's back again on Friday for another session. I'm a fan of acupuncture as I had it done for a bad back through the NHS physio and it made such a big difference.

Ed was much more relaxed in the muscles after the session, so it will be interesting to see how he feels after a week off and his second session on Friday.

I have circled the needles in the picture as they don’t really stand out against his coat! 12B4D19C-659B-4875-B05A-8C1CE1CE216A.jpeg
 
Thought I'd follow up with Ed's progress since his acupuncture sessions. His hock action is looking fantastic which is great but unfortunately other things haven't been getting better for Ed:

  • He has been getting tenser, tighter and more sore across his back
  • Now 2/10ths lame on his left fore when trotted up
  • He is so so spooky and the few times I've ridden him (vet wanted him lightly hacked to get the muscles moving) he's been like a total slug and in the next second spooking at nothing. The spooks are panicky and it's like his brain switches off and he's not listening to me at all, then he goes back to slug-like
Vet came yesterday and I'm going to take him back to horsepital for a gastroscope and some back x-rays. It's like now we've fixed the hocks he's fallen apart everywhere else!

Feeling very demoralised at the moment :(
 
Pinkvboots said:
On no so sorry to hear this I hope the front lameness is nothing too serious, and hoping the vet can get to the bottom of it all and make him comfortable again.
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Thanks Pinkyboots. It's so frustrating that they can't talk to let us know whats wrong.

He's trying so hard to let me know he's struggling so hopefully next week will make things clearer.
 
Sorry to hear Ed isn’t happy at the moment- fingers crossed you can get to the bottom of it. Really frustrating when you know somethings wrong but you can’t put your finger on what it is! Good luck for the vet visit, hope you find some answers.
 
Common issues with X racers, they are fit in a different way to normal riding, you got him carried on, but look at how u have ridden and what you have asked of him...he never had the right muscles for it, let him down slowly ie, let his fitness drop then turn him away for a good while, just head down eating will build a different set of muscles ...then bring him back into work with lots of ground work long lining etc to build him up again,
Racers are often weak on the quarters for example this is were pole work comes in, try not to be discussed heartened there's no reason why he can't be a normal ridden horse you just need to re train a slightly different way
 
jhoward said:
Common issues with X racers, they are fit in a different way to normal riding, you got him carried on, but look at how u have ridden and what you have asked of him...he never had the right muscles for it, let him down slowly ie, let his fitness drop then turn him away for a good while, just head down eating will build a different set of muscles ...then bring him back into work with lots of ground work long lining etc to build him up again,
Racers are often weak on the quarters for example this is were pole work comes in, try not to be discussed heartened there's no reason why he can't be a normal ridden horse you just need to re train a slightly different way
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Hi jhoward,

He did have 10months off between finishing racing and me getting him where he just chilled out.

When I got him he did 6 weeks walk hacking, then adding in trot and starting canter at 12 weeks. Schooling as added in very slowly, again starting with walking large, then trot, then canter before adding in any shapes etc. He then broke a splint bone, had 6 months off and we did the whole process again.

He didn’t get rushed into starting to work in a way he wasn’t used to and built up muscles slowly. I didn’t just jump on and expect him to work in a whole new way.

I don’t feel he was too pushed in the retraining process, but maybe I did rush him. If he needs the time off again, he will of course have it.
 
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Ed went back to Liphook on Thursday evening to be starved overnight before his scope and xrays yesterday.

Good news is that his ulcers aren’t back and his neck xrays were clear.

Bad news is that he has four kissings spines T16-L1. They’ve been injected and we’ll see if that makes him more comfortable.
 
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Sorry to read about all his troubles, it seems very unfair. Now you know exactly what you’re dealing with hopefully it will get better for you both.
 
silv said:
Sorry to read about all his troubles, it seems very unfair. Now you know exactly what you’re dealing with hopefully it will get better for you both.
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It does feel very unfair, particularly after losing my previous horse to kissing spines.

Fingers crossed the injections do the job and we don’t need to think about surgery 🤞
 
Thought I'd update this thread with Ed's current situation.

The vet came yesterday, and alongside his hock arthritis and kissing spines, he also has significant damage to his hind suspensories.

He's having a month of pen rest and we will re-assess him then. If there is no improvement/he's miserable we'll think about calling it a day after some time in the field with his friends.

Bit of a shocker really as he was meant to be my long-term horse who lived until his twenties, but I don't think its meant to be :(

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I'm so sorry to read this :( I have followed your story (lurker!) on instagram and on here. Big hugs and best thoughts for poor Ed, I wish you strength in making the best decision for him.
 
Northern said:
I'm so sorry to read this :( I have followed your story (lurker!) on instagram and on here. Big hugs and best thoughts for poor Ed, I wish you strength in making the best decision for him.
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Thanks Northern. I’m absolutely gutted at the outcome. If he isn’t coping with the pen rest or doesn’t improve I’ll call it a day as he has so many issues and is so young.

He’s such a lovely boy so it’s heartbreaking that he is so broken.
 
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