Not an extremely exciting post - but Prair has little to report on these days. The good news is that her poop situation has stabilized. It no longer seems like she is uncomfortable, instead we are back to our low grade leg/tail nuisance. so that is a small victory to celebrate.
On a more empirical level, all of her lab work has come back clean. No scary infectious diseases, no scary blood imbalances (though we thought that was an issue before we figured out the lab equipment was broken and had given (the same) weird results on every sample....).
So that's good. Current next step is a antibiotic that our vet has had some luck with on unexplained diarrhea. It's sort of a shot in the dark, but whatever, might as well attempt it? the only drawback is clearing out all the good bacteria in her gut, so her 5 day treatment won't start until we have a really good pre/pro-biotic on hand to issue at the same time.
In terms of non-poop related updates, the mare looks good. Her legs are staying much tighter with less wrapping and I'm hoping that means there might be less edema surrounding the suspensory. (fingers crossed). Prair's tummy edema is also gone, and she's a happy lazy mare in her turnout.
I crossed paths with our sports medicine vet today, and since she'll be on the farm again next week, she's going to do a minimal exam on the mare then, since it will have been 4 weeks since the last ultrasound. she'll palpate and flex, which presumably will still show tenderness. If that's the case that's all that will happen. If by some major miracle all tenderness is gone, we'll ultrasound again and see what's going on.
All in all Prair is good. Whatever weird stress she was responding to a couple weeks ago, seems to be gone. It's nice to see her back to herself and enjoying all her curry comb groom sessions. :)
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
Thursday, July 2, 2015
Reining in the Panic (aka a loose plan)
If my last two posts seemed a bit, well... pessimistic, I guess it's because they were. I have been enjoying my pity party over here and didn't really have an interest in leaving it anytime soon.
Thankfully, I am surrounded by smart, non-hormonal humans who are exceptionally talented at grounding me, reminding me that all-is-not-lost and I should stop acting like I'm already digging a big hole in the ground for Prair.
Fine. Point taken.
Point taken well, in fact. The last couple days have been filled with (good) conversations about what the future (realistically) holds for the mare. The Boy has been good at reminding me its only been two months and also does a good job of reminding me that playing with him and the baby are fun alternatives to showing on the weekends.
(That strategy works okay I guess, but a better one would be pony shopping for the kiddo... )
I also had some good clarifying conversations with both my trainer and my vet and am feeling much less fatalistic about it all.
For one thing, I feel a sense of liberation in committing to not jump Prair ever again. It takes the pressure off this rehab process and let's me (more clearly) think about what I want to do and focus on going forward.
Right now, that seems to be Hunter Land.
It is expensive, and sometimes maddeningly subjective - but the culture of it is also really sustainable for having a kid in tow. If I can't get to the barn for a week, I have high confidence that the care and rides are excellent... At shows it's reasonable to not be there at 4am and not stay until 10pm. It's a really realistic way to be competitive, and as involved as possible given everything else I also want to prioritize.
When I reframed my expectations to the vet to "sound for flatwork" and not necessarily a return to the Hunter Ring, she was much less guarded about a solid recovery and though that it was "extremely likely" that Prair would be more than serviceably sound for a good dressage career.
So all is Not Lost.
After a good consult with my trainer, I think I have a good operating plan going forward. I'm highly aware that "plans" and "horses" rarely make a good partnership, but I do better when I at least have something to adjust if necessary.
Prair will stay where she is for the next chunk of stall rest for two months. She's happy, I trust the care, and she's calm enough to still have modified turnout privileges. If I moved her to a new facility now, (to save on board) I think she'd be too excited about being someplace new to (quietly) enjoy some paddock time... and that's something I don't want to sacrifice for her right now.
At her recheck at the end of August, one of two things with (most likely) happen.
1) if she looks ready to get back to work (slowly) I'll move her into a Dressage program for rehab and realistically, eventual sale.
2) if she's still not ready for work, I'll move her to a non-training location where she can chill and spend a few more months hanging out. We'll reevaluate in the spring and see if she can loop back to option 1, or if I look for a good broodmare home for her. Of course if the right home plopped in my lap for her - one where I didn't think they would have unrealistic expectations of her soundness, or would use her unfairly - I'd consider letting her go sooner.
I know that Black Beauty placed a hefty amount of paranoia in us all as to what happens when we send our beloved horses down the road. If I have any doubts about where she's going or what she'll have to do, I'll put her out in a big green field myself. She deserves it. But she's also only ten. And that means if she's able - she also deserves to still have a career and have fun with someone...
So that is the plan, patience (for a while) with the knowledge that I can't ask Prair to do what I want to do, and open eyes as to what that means for options.
Thankfully, I am surrounded by smart, non-hormonal humans who are exceptionally talented at grounding me, reminding me that all-is-not-lost and I should stop acting like I'm already digging a big hole in the ground for Prair.
Fine. Point taken.
(That strategy works okay I guess, but a better one would be pony shopping for the kiddo... )
I also had some good clarifying conversations with both my trainer and my vet and am feeling much less fatalistic about it all.
For one thing, I feel a sense of liberation in committing to not jump Prair ever again. It takes the pressure off this rehab process and let's me (more clearly) think about what I want to do and focus on going forward.
Right now, that seems to be Hunter Land.
It is expensive, and sometimes maddeningly subjective - but the culture of it is also really sustainable for having a kid in tow. If I can't get to the barn for a week, I have high confidence that the care and rides are excellent... At shows it's reasonable to not be there at 4am and not stay until 10pm. It's a really realistic way to be competitive, and as involved as possible given everything else I also want to prioritize.
When I reframed my expectations to the vet to "sound for flatwork" and not necessarily a return to the Hunter Ring, she was much less guarded about a solid recovery and though that it was "extremely likely" that Prair would be more than serviceably sound for a good dressage career.
So all is Not Lost.
After a good consult with my trainer, I think I have a good operating plan going forward. I'm highly aware that "plans" and "horses" rarely make a good partnership, but I do better when I at least have something to adjust if necessary.
Prair will stay where she is for the next chunk of stall rest for two months. She's happy, I trust the care, and she's calm enough to still have modified turnout privileges. If I moved her to a new facility now, (to save on board) I think she'd be too excited about being someplace new to (quietly) enjoy some paddock time... and that's something I don't want to sacrifice for her right now.
At her recheck at the end of August, one of two things with (most likely) happen.
1) if she looks ready to get back to work (slowly) I'll move her into a Dressage program for rehab and realistically, eventual sale.
2) if she's still not ready for work, I'll move her to a non-training location where she can chill and spend a few more months hanging out. We'll reevaluate in the spring and see if she can loop back to option 1, or if I look for a good broodmare home for her. Of course if the right home plopped in my lap for her - one where I didn't think they would have unrealistic expectations of her soundness, or would use her unfairly - I'd consider letting her go sooner.
I know that Black Beauty placed a hefty amount of paranoia in us all as to what happens when we send our beloved horses down the road. If I have any doubts about where she's going or what she'll have to do, I'll put her out in a big green field myself. She deserves it. But she's also only ten. And that means if she's able - she also deserves to still have a career and have fun with someone...
So that is the plan, patience (for a while) with the knowledge that I can't ask Prair to do what I want to do, and open eyes as to what that means for options.
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
The Other Vet Visit
A few days before our Ultrasound, Prair's general vet came out and we officially opened a case on her chronic diarrhea. This issue for Prair has come and gone (but mostly been around) since we moved to our current barn. It started almost exactly after our move, and while sometimes it dies down, it doesn't really ever go away unless we are off property for an extended time (like three weeks at Thermal).
Every vet I have spoken to has been very guarded about any optimism about finding a source for Prair's symptoms. Apparently chronic diarrhea in horses is like saying we have a "rash."
There are about 400 different rashes with thousands of potential causes or irritants that could cause one. Apparently so goes watery horse poop.
Here's what we know:
There are no obvious correlations with her diet. her hay, grain and supplements have all been adjusted at some point without a large impact on her symptoms.
Symptoms started 2 weeks after our arrival to our farm, and have varied in severity, but have always been pretty consistent. Most of the time her manure itself is well formed there's just extra... liquid.
Until the last couple of weeks she has never appeared uncomfortable. No signs of colic, no worried eyeballs, nothing. Recently she has seem upset over passing manure, which I think is due to her skin being a bit scalded...
Her fecal showed nothing weird, egg counts are right where they should be in her worming schedule, so it's unlikely a traditional parasite.
Blood was also mostly normal. I say mostly because protein counts were a tad off, and oddly, a few other horses on the farm who had blood drawn showed the same protein irregularities - but no tummy symptoms.
Sand was also well within a acceptable range. I know sand checks are fairly subjective, but he didn't hear much of it in her belly, and there wasn'y much in her manure. She's not grazing on sandy soil, and I've never seen her eating sand in her paddock, so I'm not that concerned about sand...
Our vet is Mr. Thorough. He spent 45 minutes on the phone discussing significantly more detail on the lab results and possible causes than I could ever hope to remember or understand. Which - is saying something since I'm usually a vet-detail-hoarder.
Right now the plan is to collect another blood and fecal sample to overnight to Davis for a different lab screening that will focus more on screening for weird viruses. (I think).
Prair's getting some of her supplements pulled just to simplify her diet a tad, and depending on the results from Davis, we may try pulling her off traditional hay for a couple weeks and give her hay-mush only in order to let her tummy settle and not have to process stems for a while.
All in all, there's no clear path to explore. Initially Mr. Thorough was thinking the protein levels in the bloodwork was going to be our primary avenue, but with other horses showing the same levels and no symptoms, he's less confident that is what's driving Prair's symptoms.
The increased confinement of Prair's "stall rest" (with turnout) could also be contributing to her tummy troubles, but sadly, that's not about to change anytime soon either.
Mostly it's a big bag of question marks for the moment, but hopefully the second round of lab work will at least rule out a few causes and I can keep the mare's tushy a tad cleaner.
All the watery poop has really done a number on her tail as well... While she never had a thick, luscious tail to begin with, it's even sadder after so much breakage and snarls with manure dreadlocks.
A sad, but less serious side effect I suppose.
Always an adventure!
Every vet I have spoken to has been very guarded about any optimism about finding a source for Prair's symptoms. Apparently chronic diarrhea in horses is like saying we have a "rash."
There are about 400 different rashes with thousands of potential causes or irritants that could cause one. Apparently so goes watery horse poop.
Here's what we know:
There are no obvious correlations with her diet. her hay, grain and supplements have all been adjusted at some point without a large impact on her symptoms.
Symptoms started 2 weeks after our arrival to our farm, and have varied in severity, but have always been pretty consistent. Most of the time her manure itself is well formed there's just extra... liquid.
Until the last couple of weeks she has never appeared uncomfortable. No signs of colic, no worried eyeballs, nothing. Recently she has seem upset over passing manure, which I think is due to her skin being a bit scalded...
Her fecal showed nothing weird, egg counts are right where they should be in her worming schedule, so it's unlikely a traditional parasite.
Blood was also mostly normal. I say mostly because protein counts were a tad off, and oddly, a few other horses on the farm who had blood drawn showed the same protein irregularities - but no tummy symptoms.
Sand was also well within a acceptable range. I know sand checks are fairly subjective, but he didn't hear much of it in her belly, and there wasn'y much in her manure. She's not grazing on sandy soil, and I've never seen her eating sand in her paddock, so I'm not that concerned about sand...
Our vet is Mr. Thorough. He spent 45 minutes on the phone discussing significantly more detail on the lab results and possible causes than I could ever hope to remember or understand. Which - is saying something since I'm usually a vet-detail-hoarder.
Right now the plan is to collect another blood and fecal sample to overnight to Davis for a different lab screening that will focus more on screening for weird viruses. (I think).
Prair's getting some of her supplements pulled just to simplify her diet a tad, and depending on the results from Davis, we may try pulling her off traditional hay for a couple weeks and give her hay-mush only in order to let her tummy settle and not have to process stems for a while.
All in all, there's no clear path to explore. Initially Mr. Thorough was thinking the protein levels in the bloodwork was going to be our primary avenue, but with other horses showing the same levels and no symptoms, he's less confident that is what's driving Prair's symptoms.
The increased confinement of Prair's "stall rest" (with turnout) could also be contributing to her tummy troubles, but sadly, that's not about to change anytime soon either.
Mostly it's a big bag of question marks for the moment, but hopefully the second round of lab work will at least rule out a few causes and I can keep the mare's tushy a tad cleaner.
All the watery poop has really done a number on her tail as well... While she never had a thick, luscious tail to begin with, it's even sadder after so much breakage and snarls with manure dreadlocks.
A sad, but less serious side effect I suppose.
Always an adventure!
Friday, June 26, 2015
Ultrasound Update - Cue Despair
Prair has been getting more than her fair share of attention from her arsenal of vets recently. Aside from the check up on her Left Hind, our GP has been out to try and investigate her chronic diarrhea which has made a angry resurgence.
I'll start with the check up on her left hind, since that's most of the drama.
We started by lunging Prair on a small circle, where, even with a heavy martini in her veins, she was still exhibiting Dragon-like-symptoms. But once a bit settled, she looked great.
Both directions.
No limp, no shuffle, no quick step. Sound.
So we flexed.
And that's where the wheels fell off the wagon.
Her left fetlock flexion is still really positive. She shows obvious discomfort at the flexion being held and the first two steps off the line looked nearly as bad as I remember eight and a half weeks ago when this adventure started.
I almost canceled the Ultrasound since we knew it wasn't going to show brilliant progress, but I was too curious and too interested to delay the opportunity to get more information.
The (little bit) of good news is that general inflammation in the area is down. There is still some edema around the suspensory, but less than there was 8 weeks ago. The medial branch of the suspensory still shows a small area of disruption, but appears to be making (some) progress. This would be great news f the DDFT was following suit, but the DDFT looks exactly the same as the images we saved from the previous ultrasound.
There is s slight line showing on the DDFT, which is likely a small split in the tendon. We can't confirm exactly what or where without an MRI, but I'm still holding off on that procedure since confirming it's a split doesn't change any treatment plans.
Essentially, the vet took one look and asked for two more months of stall rest followed by another ultrasound. A pattern we would keep repeating until we see either improvement in healing or scar tissue form.
Obviously not what I wanted to hear. I am extremely skeptical of miraculous healing when there hasn't been much indication of progress in the initial two months - especially when the structures received PRP and shockwave to invite progress with limited results...
So.
There we are. I spent the long drive home from the barn being fatalistic and trying to think about my (reasonable) options. One thing I am fairly certain of is that if we can get meaningful healing, and Prair comes back sound on that limb, I don't think it's fair to ask her to jump (however small) again as her primary job. Attempting to rehab her as a solid, exceptional Dressage mount for an Ammy seems more responsible.
At this point (as in today, thought I'm sure I'll waffle on this), I still really want to jump, so if Dressage-Ammy-Mount was an option, I'd likely be looking for a home I trusted for the big mare.
Of course I have to consider the possibility that she won't be serviceably sound and think about what that means too.
She's pretty, she has great bloodlines and two (stunning) babies on the ground, so we know she has value as a broodmare as well... it just seems too soon for her to become a professional mama.
Anyway, obviously for the time being some patience is probably what I need the most - but it's hard not to let my mind race a year down the road and wonder if I should try to move her now to a less expensive facility where she can enjoy her (extended) rest in a slightly more affordable fashion.
Though my immediate reaction to that thought is concern over moving a horse that I want keen eyeballs on to a facility where the service level might be lower and the staff won't be familiar with her.... Not necessarily a great tradeoff, especially for peace of mind.
Lots of thinking to do, and thankfully a sunny, beautiful weekend coming up so I can wallow in my Mare Despair, probably with wine in hand
Ugh.
I'll start with the check up on her left hind, since that's most of the drama.
We started by lunging Prair on a small circle, where, even with a heavy martini in her veins, she was still exhibiting Dragon-like-symptoms. But once a bit settled, she looked great.
Both directions.
No limp, no shuffle, no quick step. Sound.
So we flexed.
And that's where the wheels fell off the wagon.
Her left fetlock flexion is still really positive. She shows obvious discomfort at the flexion being held and the first two steps off the line looked nearly as bad as I remember eight and a half weeks ago when this adventure started.
I almost canceled the Ultrasound since we knew it wasn't going to show brilliant progress, but I was too curious and too interested to delay the opportunity to get more information.
The (little bit) of good news is that general inflammation in the area is down. There is still some edema around the suspensory, but less than there was 8 weeks ago. The medial branch of the suspensory still shows a small area of disruption, but appears to be making (some) progress. This would be great news f the DDFT was following suit, but the DDFT looks exactly the same as the images we saved from the previous ultrasound.
There is s slight line showing on the DDFT, which is likely a small split in the tendon. We can't confirm exactly what or where without an MRI, but I'm still holding off on that procedure since confirming it's a split doesn't change any treatment plans.
Essentially, the vet took one look and asked for two more months of stall rest followed by another ultrasound. A pattern we would keep repeating until we see either improvement in healing or scar tissue form.
 |
| crap |
So.
There we are. I spent the long drive home from the barn being fatalistic and trying to think about my (reasonable) options. One thing I am fairly certain of is that if we can get meaningful healing, and Prair comes back sound on that limb, I don't think it's fair to ask her to jump (however small) again as her primary job. Attempting to rehab her as a solid, exceptional Dressage mount for an Ammy seems more responsible.
At this point (as in today, thought I'm sure I'll waffle on this), I still really want to jump, so if Dressage-Ammy-Mount was an option, I'd likely be looking for a home I trusted for the big mare.
Of course I have to consider the possibility that she won't be serviceably sound and think about what that means too.
She's pretty, she has great bloodlines and two (stunning) babies on the ground, so we know she has value as a broodmare as well... it just seems too soon for her to become a professional mama.
Anyway, obviously for the time being some patience is probably what I need the most - but it's hard not to let my mind race a year down the road and wonder if I should try to move her now to a less expensive facility where she can enjoy her (extended) rest in a slightly more affordable fashion.
Though my immediate reaction to that thought is concern over moving a horse that I want keen eyeballs on to a facility where the service level might be lower and the staff won't be familiar with her.... Not necessarily a great tradeoff, especially for peace of mind.
Lots of thinking to do, and thankfully a sunny, beautiful weekend coming up so I can wallow in my Mare Despair, probably with wine in hand
Ugh.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
