Isis felt great today. Pulled her into the ring to see how she was feeling. She was off of bute, her hoof had healed, and it was time to see how she was moving. Poof! She took off around the ring, curled her tail over her back, and trotted without touching the ground.

Oh yes, she is sound. Magnificently sound.

Party!

Isis is an escape artist. Not out of the usual things: fences, gates, halters. She gets out of grazing muzzles and leg wraps. For a week, we soaked her foot and then wrapped it. And of the days it was wrapped, she took it off probably half of the time. It didn’t seem to matter how careful I was about placing the diaper on the bottom of her foot, sealing the velco-type closures, and then duct taping the rest of it securely. The wrap looked secure.

Before, I’d had trouble with her hoof comign through the bandage. Several times I found the entire bandage in the field and her happily grazing away — muzzleless.

Good news. Well, kinda good news. Isis’ lameness was caused by an abscess and not by a flareup of her laminitis. The vet’s examination showed a sore spot on Isis’ front right foot. Boy was there a lot of nasty gunk in her foot. No wonder she was so sore.

Isis wll be on bute for 10 days or so and her foot will be wrapped during that time. So she’ll be okay. It was a good thing that we called. Apparently, an episode like that could aggrevate her laminitis, so the important thing is to get the pain under control and take care of things quickly.

The funny thing is that I’m going to be wrapping Isis’ hoof with a diaper, one size above newborn. Have you ever tried to purchase a package of 10-15 diapers? Wal-Mart and CVS only sell diapers in packages of 30-50. She has a diaper supply that will last her for many years now.

I called the vet and asked for her to call me back. Hopefully tomorrow she will be able to come out and see Isis. If she can, I’d like to do x-rays and a sonogram of her tendon. No, can’t really afford it right now, but neither can I afford to let something like this strange lameness go undiagnosed.

Let’s hope that Mom is right and it’s just an abscess.

On my way home tonight, the barn manager called and said Isis was lame today. Severely lame. She was not wanting to put any weight on her front right foot, had trouble turning that direction, and stood with her leg held up. He had examined her legs, shoulders, neck, cleaned her feet and found nothing. No obvious reason why she would be lame.

I asked him to give her a bute and call me in the morning. It would be well after dark before I could get to the barn. During the hour-long drive in to town, the more I thought about it, the more I realized I had to go out and see her. I couldn’t just let it go until morning.

Just like everything for the past two weeks, I had no idea what would be causing this episode of lameness. She had been lame the day before. She had also been trimmed. My farrier is very good, and has rarely trimmed her so she was sore. I also gooped Isis with the liniment yesterday form her shoulders down to her fetlocks and rubbed it in, hoping that would help. Of couse today, I’m wondering if that just hindered her in some way.

One of the other horses had an abscess. Maybe Isis’ lameness was caused by one of the stone bruises from the trail ride abscessing? It might explain not only the lameness but why she was suddenly more sore today. The trim could have made the infection closer to the surface, which would result in increased lameness.

Who knows? All I know is that the mare I’ve spent two years so carefully helping to heal is lame again. I’ve dreamed about going on a trail ride with her off-site for years. When we finally do, and everything is carefully planned, everything seems to go wrong. And we’re paying for it over a month and more. I know, I know, no evidence that this lameness is tied in with the trail ride. Well, she hasn’t been thoroughy sound since that ride, so why wouldn’t the lameness be fallout from her workout?

It’s hard to describe how frustrating this is. I keep thinking that if the trail ride had just been either the walk up the hill on the stone *or* the trailering lesson, maybe she would be okay. We were so careful on the trail. We walked a few steps and then stopped. She wasn’t sweating or anything when we got back to the trailer. Her feet, however, were very sore.

I’m looking for something to point to and say if I don’t do that again then this won’t happen. With a danger-prone horse like Isis, that is an impossibility. Even in a rubberized room, her curiosity would still get the better of her.

Those summer sore on her stomach are still there. I’ve been treating them for weeks. The swelling on her belly is at least gone, but the skin where the swelling was is flaky and very itchy. She’s been rubbing her belly in the dirt to itch it at times. I’m using gnat away cream on it during the day and a tea-tree oil/hydrocortisone cream during the night to help fight itching.

At least the rainrot is staying under control this year. She has a spot or two on her legs, but that’s it.

The worry-wort part of me thinks that maybe Isis won’t be able to be ridden again. Last time the vet was out, Isis was okayed for breeding too. Maybe all I’ll be able to do is breed her… although I can only afford two horses. A third would be too expensive. (When the board bill is more then the rent, you know something is wrong.)

I called my Mom when I got home. She knew as soon as I called that smething was wrong. She patiently listened and reminded me that most likely it was just an abscess, which is easy to correct. It just takes time. I shouldn’t focus on anything else until I’d talked to the vet. Worrying wouldn’t do me any good. She reminded me that I’ve done everything I can do. She’s right, of course. (Aren’t Moms usually?) I really appreciated her listening to me vent about Isis.

Sometimes Moms are great to remind you what is important. Especially a Mom who has horses and understands that horses are family members too.

Some good news at least. I went back to the tack shop last Thursday to pick up a saddle to try on Isis. It’s a wide-tree all purpose Spanish-made saddle. Lovingly taken care of by the previous owner. It’s very soft.

Unlike the other four saddles I’ve tried on Isis, this one settled perfectly on her back. The seat was level. Her whithers were the proper distance from the pommel, instead of sitting six-fingers up.

I’ll call the tack shop Monday and tell them I’m keeping the saddle.

Wouldn’t it be ironic if I can’t use it on her? Not going there.

Poor mare. She is still lame.

When the farrier came out today, I asked him to watch Isis move before trimming her. We brought her into the ring and asked her to trot and walk (briefly) both directions. Clockwise, she bobbed her head slightly and was obviously limping. Counterclockwise, she flung her head and trotted with her tail up with out an evident limp. (Last time she flung her head around like that, she was considerably lamer the next day.)

I’ve wondered if her neck being sore would cause her to have this kind of strange lameness, where she is obviously lame only going one direction.

I asked the farrier which leg — he thought it was her front left. I’ve thought it was her front right. It’s so hard to tell because of the way she’s been moving. I just don’t know what is going on with her legs. Seems like nothing I do helps her to improve.

She hasn’t had a real workout since the trail ride. I’ve lunged her three times, both times about 15 minutes mostly at the walk. The one day when she was feeling great, I asked her to trot — and she didn’t want to stop.

The farrier trimmed Isis and pointed out that rocky ground can trigger a laminitis episode. Well crap. And double crap. And triple…

Isis is not a dainty mare. She is built like a tank; something inherited from her Crabbet breeding. Her sire takes a regular tree, as did her mother. Isis has to do everything in a special manner, and that means she is difficult to fit with a saddle.

At the tack shop the other day, I picked up a trooper saddle made by M&W Saddlerly here in Tennessee. The tree had the just about the widest one I’d seen. The seat was wonderfully comfortable. If you’ve ever sat in saddles, you know what it’s like when your tush says “aaahhh!”

The saddle itself was more than I’d wanted to pay. However, it was very comfortable and if it fit would have been a great saddle for trail riding. Key words: If it fit.

Which, of course, it didn’t. Without the saddle pad, it seemed to fit on her back relatively well. Except it was too long when properly cinched. She had maybe an inch from the end of the saddle to her hips. Not quite enough to be able to get her legs underneath her and really move. Surprisingly, the saddle was also too long for my gelding, who is two inches taller than Isis and longer in the back.

I tried it on her and just sat on it. We took a step or two to see how it felt, and then I dismounted. The trooper saddle is rather like a cross between a McClelland (cavalry saddle) and an Australian stock saddle. The seat feels suspended in this saddle — good for distributing weight over the horse’s back, not good for feeling close and connected when riding. It was disappointing, and I wasn’t sure.

However, for that amount of money, I wasn’t going to keep the saddle if I had any doubt. It looked too long for her and also seemed to not quite fit her back. The whithers seemed okay, but her shoulders didn’t quite have free movement.

It was a relief to return the saddle. It’s still an incredibly comfortable saddle. Someone will have a happy tush after hours of trail riding.

I should have known better. Isis is lame again today. Again, seems impossible to tell exactly which leg or area is causing the lameness. No swelling. No heat in her legs or feet. Maybe just ouchiness? It’s been almost a week since the trail ride.

I did find something interesting: she did not want to be brushed on her neck under her mane on the right side. Last week when she was not wanting to get off of the trailer, she banged the right side of her neck against the trailer corner. My trainer has pointed out that she might be sore on that spot. Sure enough, the spot was hot to the touch and Isis did not want to be touched with a brush or my hand.

Isis is getting daily rub-downs with liniment. It seems to help. I’ve been mainly paying attention to her lower legs. Today she was completely slimed.