It’s been a very long, muddy winter. And fall, and most of the previous summer too. I had a curious confluence of events that kept me feeling slightly overwhelmed. You know, that feeling where you are juggling everything but can not add one more ball to the mix without dropping everything. So I didn’t blog….
After her hock issues, we’ve been evaluating everything with Kasane to try and help her as much as we can. The farrier was out and had a good talk with my vet about some shoe ideas for Kasane. She has her front shoes on backwards now. This helps alleviate pressure from her front suspensory issue…
Kasane is finally home. She came home a few days earlier than expected and she is immediately settling in. She is so happy to be here. Not as happy as I am to have her home. Now begins the recovery process: stall rest followed by small paddock turnout followed by more small paddock turnout. Eventually, in-hand…
My vet called with some good news for Kasane. The synovial fluid test and culture came back today. Preliminary culture results are no growth. Yay! The ultrasound of her joint fluid looked clear with moderate synovial thicking. This is some of the best news we could have had because it means that there is no…
My vet is awesome. She has been keeping me updated on how Kasane is doing. She’s had her hocks lavaged twice she since arrived at the hospital. She’s done well both times. Today, the joint was not as distended. Here’s what my vet said: The joint fluid has some blood in it from the synovial…
Yesterday, Kasane’s hocks were swollen: soft swelling like too much joint fluid. My vet said that if we found any swelling, to contact her immediately. She came out 30 minutes after I sent her pictures of Kasane’s hocks. The result from the vet visit is that Kasane has had a reaction to the joint injection…
Kasane did very well over the summer with riding and lessons. We had improved so much. And then we had two hurricanes back to back and lots of rain. When I got back on her finally, it was like riding a different horse. She felt stiff behind and did not want to move freely like…
Thirteen years ago, my horse somersaulted and landed on me when we were cantering during a riding lesson. I don’t remember what happened exactly. We were cantering down the long side at the end of the lesson and she felt magnificent: strong impulsion, light in my hands, and then something. The world spun and I…
Kasane’s slow rehabilitation from her suspensory ligament injury made last year feel longer than almost any other year. Doing the rehab itself wasn’t hard. It just took dedicated time every week. No excuses (well, except for weather — can’t do much walking or riding in the rain without a covered arena). The hardest part was…
I finally feel like I have enough energy to start writing and riding for fun again. Kasane’s rehab took the majority of my energy last year. On top of that, things at my old position became…less than optimal. While I enjoyed everyone I worked with, the last reorganization ended up in my position changing from…
It’s been a long, slow summer. For the past few weeks, I’ve felt like I was holding my breath waiting for Kasane to reinjure herself. She hasn’t. But she might try, like the times she put her back feet through the stall wall and almost needed stitches. (She demolished that wall when she rolled in…
Let’s say that you have a pool of energy to draw from to complete all of your daily tasks. Having a certain level of stress or worry is like having a small leak in that bucket so some things — like writing more blog posts — don’t happen as often. Kasane’s treatment for her proximal…
For the past few months, I couldn’t bring myself to post here about Kasane. Her injury on her front right leg is serious and more complicated than we originally thought. It wasn’t just her front right fetlock that had arthritis, there were other things going on that had been highlighted in the bone scan done…
Just as I walked into the barn today, Kasane managed to get cast against the stall wall. Seriously cast—as in, she couldn’t push herself away from the wall to get up. She was on her left side against the stall wall partition with her front legs tucked underneath her. She kicked out with her back…
When Kasane was at the vet hospital earlier this month, the diagnostic tests indicated that she had issues in her front right fetlock, sacroiliac (SI) joint in her back, front left foot, and one of her hocks. The vet said to wait two weeks and then check her for soundness. That check was today and…