Not following doctors orders

The small pen idea lasted all of 4 days before I cracked. Getting enough hay and water to Flossy and Sofie was not sustainable. In any case Sofie was getting upset that she could see but not be with her friends and spent some time cantering up and down in small circles which entirely defeated the purpose of the pen.

I have since moved them to a small field at the back of the estate in the hope that Sofie will stay calm enough in the larger pen. Flossy and Sofie are not entirely happy with the arrangement, but don't seem to be charging about. There is evidence that they have been fence walking. A week of grazing and they have pretty much eaten everything. Their poo suggests they are running on empty now so I have asked for some hay to be taken to them.


Hungry Sof attacking the treat ball

I haven't really walked Sofie. She seems to be walking herself in the field and she is a bit lively when I take her out. Not naughty, but I do get dragged in and dragged back out again when I take her in for a groom.

I have also failed at getting her the daily bute. Getting to the field every day is also impractical.

So the only real bit of vet advise I have followed is her special shiny shoes and the only improvement I have achieved is getting Sof to shed a few pounds. Fingers crossed the shoes, rest and hap-hazard bute rations, and weight loss will be enough.

I have been looking at different yards, made my father come on a tour with me last Sunday to weigh up the options. Shamely green can provide everything my ponies need - but I still have reservations about cost and getting across town in rush hour. Going to try and cycle there this weekend to see if that puts my mind at ease. I am rubbish when it comes to decisions.

Frustration vent

I hate to sound mopey. But things are getting me down so thought this would be a good place to vent.

Just got off the phone from the vets. They are now saying 3 months in a small pen with in-hand walk work (which to be quite frank in unrealistic - Sof will never stay calm for that long and walk work will be pogo sticking). They are also not keen to refer us to Rockely - citing that Rockely is a place of false hope and the horses that come back are only sound in their owners deluded eyes.

:(

I wouldn't mind that much - expect they are also telling me that rest and farriery is unlikely to work as well. Feels a bit hypercritical. I am probably just frustrated by the whole situation.

I am also really struggling with keeping Sof in a pen. I am running hay and water to her pen daily - but I don't think I can get enough hay there, really she should be hayed twice a day. I asked on the barefoot forum only to have a barrage of - 'you are cruel restricting food and movement' comments. So difficult when I am trying to follow vet advise.

Sof is unhappy. I tried to take her out and she exploded on the end of the rope when I put her back in. I'm mega stressed - and we are only 3 days in!

I cracked at lunchtime. Texted a lady who runs a livery yard down in Shamley green to see if she can take Sof and Tonto. It is a bit more expensive - but they would provide hay, feed and water, meaning I could visit when I wanted to rather than because I had to. I'm waiting to hear back from them.

Tonto has also become utterly feral. I miss being able to love and fuss him. Whilst the place he is at is cheap and good for his legs it takes all enjoyment out of owning him.

I was going to use Tonto as Sofies pen companion. I'm not sure if this is entirely fair on Tonto. Restricted movement might not be in his best interest.

I could just about hold things together for 6 weeks until Sof went to Rockley and fingers crossed got fixed. Not sure I can stick this out for months on end.

Uphill battle

Trying to start Sofies rehab treatment is proving to be an uphill struggle. Endless nagging to get my farrier to contact my vet. Zero help from the livery yard in setting up restricted turn out (actually that is not entirely fair, they have said I can borrow one of their ponies to keep Sofie company and offered electric tape, though no one could find it when I went to ask). And friends and family who, whilst being sympathetic ultimately want me to walk away for my own good. I'm too afraid to even talk to Nick about it - and he as made it very clear he doesn't want me to in any case.

And to make matters a bit worse - if they were not already - Sofies owners have made it very clear they do not want her back, and will put her down if she is permanently out of action.

Rehoming her is nigh on impossible, and if I keep her I don't think Nick will ever forgive me.

So it looks like I am stuck with a lovely, if broken horse, and spinsterhood. I can't let someone shoot Sofie in the head just because she can't trot in circles!

But before I plummet into despair at my upcoming 'crazy spinster with horses' status I should at least try to get Sof better and/or rehomed.

I'm getting frustrated at the lack of progress with remedial farriery, but my farrier assures me today that he has finally talked to the vet and has the required shoes on order for us. In the mean time I have made progress on the restricted turn out front. I bought an 'eclectic fence starter kit' at great expense and have made a pen for Sofie and her friend Flossy in the corner of their current field. The corner is reasonably dry and they can still see their field buddies and chat up the boys next door so I hoped they would be reasonably happy. The pen is also near the yard for running up hay and water.

I was a bit worried about catching Flossy, who is notoriously skittish. Finally I have had some good fortune in that all the mares got nosey when I was unpacking and setting up my electric fencing, and were busy sifting though the cardboard box as soon as my back was turned (obviously this was started by Sof and then the others joined in). They were so busy with the box that I managed to set up the fencing around them and then just had to remove the ponies I didn't want from my pen.

Sof and Flossy were furious when they realised I had duped them and galloped around the enclosure - perhaps I should have made it smaller - however there mood soon changed when I presented their haynets and treatball. They looked fairly smug eating their hay whilst their companions looked on enviously from the other side of the new fence.

Hope for us yet

Sof has been booked in to see the vet on Wednesday... in the mean time I am doing that thing that we all do but shouldn't - consulting google.

The prognosis for recovery from collateral ligament injury is pretty poor. I am not optimistic.

However I tracked this down from the Rockley blog - project dexter Perhaps there is hope for us yet

Collateral ligament dammage

So the results came in from the mri... looks like collateral ligament damage most likely as a result of historic foot inbalance.

Bugger.

my first thought was panic - is this something i have done? Was my decision to try barefoot the cause? Well actually no. Even when I first started riding her she was wonkey and pulling shoes on the worst affected foot. I think she arrived broken. Barefoot may not have helped as she did wear her feet unevenly,but given she was on a short trim cycle as we constantly worked to counter this I don't think i made things worse.

Treatment options are limited turn out, walk strengthening exercises, catrophen injections, coffin joint injections, and remedial farriery.

I had a frank chat with the vet about the long term prognosis. She was rather garded about it.  I asked her if, given sof is on loan to me technically, is it worth walking away, she said a lot of frustration and heart ache lies ahead.

Really difficult position for me. I had already decided they if the condition was progresive i would find her a breeding home and walk away. However bad i feel about this i cannot afford a second broken horse, and nick would not support me so i would have to put her down as soon as she was unfit for work. I just know i could not do that.

But ligament damage is not as clear cut. It might get better, it might get worse, it might be better and then resurface. I don't think i can take ownership now.

So what do i do? I could just hand her back, but i know her owners do not have the time to go through the strengthening program with her and so her outlook would be bleak. I could find her a breeding home, but no one would insure her to give her the teatment she needs so she would remain lame indefinatly. I feel i do owe it to her to stick through the next year to see if we can fix the damage, whilst it is still covered on insurance and them see. It does mean I have to pay for two horses i can't ride. Am i being fair to myself here?

The final option i would like to investigate is rockely farm. They seem to have a good track record with these conditions and i believe have a better outcome than traditional treatment.just not sure how much this would cost or how long their waiting list is.

I'm going to have to do a good bit of sole searching over the next few days. The vet wants to come back and do one final nerve block to be sure it is the ligaments that are the problem. I'll chat through the options with her then.

Fees, insurance and hospital appointments

If you were considering buying a horse - this post will surely put you off.

In recent weeks its been all work no play for me - and not a barrel of laughs for poor old Sof.

Last week I was up at 6am to ship poor Sofie off to the vets for X-rays and nerve blocks. Today I was doing the same again, but this time to Liphook equine hospital for MRI scan.

Sof was wise to us this time though. She is normally very good to load, unless you rush her. Today she started to stroll on - and then changed her mind and charged full pelt back to her field - looking remarkably sound in the process - leaving me feeling slightly embarrassed trailing behind her. I caught her again and put a bridle on to ensure compliance. Poor old sof, I can hardly blame her. To add to my guilt I am not coming with her today and may not be there when she returns either. This is going to upset my poor girl. I will have to make it up to her.

Little does she know that I have been spending the time talking to her insurance company - trying to get back as much of the escalating costs as possible - a £500 and counting vets fee (today will be at least 1K) £300+ in travel costs. Things get very expensive very quickly. I really REALLY hope they find the cause to her issues this time. Otherwise that is nearly 2K gone for nothing!

Next time I'm getting a hamster!

And the answer was... lame

Sofie's poor little shaven foot

So went into the vets practice today for a lameness investigation. This brought back horrid memories from 2011 when Mr T was first diagnosed with ring bone. Same set of tests and everything.

It was an early start, we loaded so up straight from her field at the crack of dawn. A lovely lady called Sally took us to the practice. The drive was beautiful which helped distract me from worrying about the day ahead.

I dropped her off feeling very guilty for leaving her, but better to not be under the vets feet as they conducted there investigation.

And the results... 3/10 lame, particularly on her front left foot, but also on her front right - and here I was thinking it was her hocks! Perhaps it is best I am not a vet. Navicular nervous block showed no improvement,  nor did injection to the coffin joint, but fetlock injection showed her to be much sounder afterwards 'could trot all day' so she clearly has a problem somewhere in the foot. She had some x rays but they did not show anything.

So she is in pain, but we still do not know the cause.

The vet has referred her for an mri at Liphook equine hospital (so more horrid memories for me as last time I was the was the night we put Sam to sleep). Now just waiting to see if the insurance company will pay for the procedure.

Not sure what I will do if they do not pay. I think it costs nearly 2 grand. I really don't want to pay that, but a lot is riding on the outcome of the investigation. If so has a long term lameness issue it might be best to find her a new job as a brood mare. Not fair to ride her if she is sore, and I already have one very expensive field orniment.

So I am nervously awaiting a call from the vet/insurance company. Troubling times