Prair Update

There hasn't been much on the Big Mare recently... mostly because the Big Mare isn't doing much.... She is still up north, happily getting fat and enjoying her stall/run/confinement with a relatively good attitude. 

I was supposed to get up there around New Years to flex her and see if she was still three legged lame on that left hind, but due to a myriad of reasons - I didn't actually get to attempt that until yesterday.

Pair's best GoT "winter is coming" face

(note: I need new photos like whoa)

If "too busy to flex my horse" is any indication of how nuts things have been - so is the fact that I showed up to attempt said flexion without ear plugs, or (more importantly) some sort of elephant tranquilizer. 

But, we threw a chain over her nose, grabbed some treats and walked out of the barn to see what we were working with.

The answer to that (idiotic) question is - a big, dumb kite.  A huge, shorty, four legged kite that hasn't walked more than twenty feet in a straight line for more than.... 10 months.

So the information gathering was limited to say the least. 

We did get some useful information like - she wasn't flinching from palpation (yay) and she was actually willing to let me flex the leg (which she wasn't a few months ago).  So.... That's helpful info.

However, trotting off after said flexion was not actually helpful because she sorta flew around like a maniac long enough that by the time her toes touched ground again, I'm not sure we would have seen any impact from the flexion...

Recognizing that she wasn't likely to magically calm down - we did one final flexion asking her to just walk off after and that looked... normal I guess?

She was still squiggly and excited about walking so I wouldn't put a lot of stock in it - but she did at least willingly use her leg in all walking/flying/leaping activities, which is for sure better than where we started.

But - I'm not a vet and the mare wasn't making it easy, so ultimately I called my lameness guru and she will be in the area next week so we'll get a real, certified opinion on where things are then.

Fingers crossed we see some real improvement.  Prairie is creeping up on 10 months of stall rest (good GOD) and I'm guessing that we are unlikely to see any real tissue change front his point forward. 

We are probably inching toward the point where she gets reintroduced to work to see what we can build up to - or.... she enters the world of professional mommyhood. 

Hang tight mama... D-day is coming.