Lameness. Every owner faces it, just a matter of when. Whether it be a torn tendon, a pulled muscle, a kick from another horse, bad shoes, a fracture, laminitis, a crack in the shoe, a pulled shoe, or as it was in my case this time, an abscess. Abscess do suck, but you can't help but feel relieved when the reason your horse is acting as if his leg is broken is just because of a puss filled blister causing pressure somewhere inside his hoof. Of course, the waiting game really sucks!! A few weeks ago we had a bad farrier who cut away ALL of Udex's already too thin sole, resulting in his mushroom feet being even MORE prone to stone bruises and abscess'. To top it off, Udex was also kicked by a mare in the paddock, making him a little sore. So for about 3 weeks I was taking care of a lame Udex. Taking him on little walks, not riding anymore then walk and a little trot, and getting him corrective shoes (by an amazing farrier!) which are helping his hooves to grow. So almost a month after Udex had gone lame, I was so excited to be back in the saddle! He was feeling well, and I was feeling excited to ride and to take a lesson!! I had a friend out and I rode Udex with her and her horse. He was a joy to ride (as always!) Two days from then was going to be my lesson. The next day I went to go put boots on Udex in the paddock and saw he was walking in the most bizarre way imaginable. His brown leg (front left [FL]) was outstretched and he was refusing to bend it at the knee or to put pressure on it. I palpated his leg (as you should when you see somethings not quite right with your horses limb) and did not feel any heat, any moisture,any lumps, and didn't even see swelling. He was not bothered by my hands squeezing his leg. I picked up the leg and checked out the hoof, just to be sure it wasn't a hot nail! Still he did not seem too bothered by it. He then got uninterested with my squeezing his leg and, being the typical warmblood he is, decided to walk away from me! Now, I know when a horse is lame how they should limp, jump around on their other three legs, throw their heads, or just refuse to move... Usually you can see how the way they are limping, what may be the cause of the underlying lameness. However, I was stumped when I saw how Udex walked away from me. He was walking with his FL leg locked in place, and swinging it outward. I mean, reallllly swinging it too!! He wasn't throwing his head, and besides not putting any weight on that leg, didn't seem to be in any other pain! I had to chuckle a bit because my usually elegant, floaty, energetic horse was now walking like a Spanish horse of some sort! Anyways, after a lot of consideration I decided it would be better to leave him overnight in the paddock with his friends. I know that if he was hurt in some sort, and I did stall him, he would have just paced himself out of fear from being a lone and just made matters worse. It would be far smarter to just let him stay with his friends, doing just a few steps of walk. We would decide whether or not he would have to be stalled in the morning.
The next morning I came to lunge Udex to try to get a better look at what the problem could be. He was standing off to the corner in the paddock all by himself, FL leg dangling by his side, but his appetite still huge and grazing on the great grass!! I put the lead rope on him, but he refused to walk with me. He stood there with his FL leg dangling. At that point my hopes of the lameness disappearing over night left me. It was still here, and if not, worse. We got a whip out and together, my Mom and I managed to pull him to the stall. It took about an hour to get him to go the short distance. The entire time he was walking on his toe, which convinced me it wasn't a leg, hip, muscle, or joint problem, but rather a problem within the hoof. So Udex went into his stall and happily munched on some hay and nibbled on some straw! He was still the same old Udex though, nervous to leave his friends, but instead of pacing he was hobbling on his three legs!
For about four days I soaked his hoof in warm epsom salt water several times a day, and hand walking him to a little patch of grass down the street. (He had to walk to keep circulation flowing to the hoof the right way, and of course, he did love his snacks of that great grass!) Finally on the fifth day, at the bulb of his heel puss started to seep out. He was walking normal and had all his go back! He got to be with his paddock palls and eat the fresh grass out there! I was really happy to see him being able to walk normally on over to his friends! -He had missed it so much!-
So right now the abscess has finished popping! I am at the stage where I'm waiting for it to fully heal up so I can start to ride him again!! His walk is perfect, but he still limps at trot! It has only been about two days since the thing popped, so I'm pretty sure he is going to be ready to ride in no time!!! I'm really excited to have a nice ride with him again! I do have to say, over this entire last month and a half I have really bonded with him a lot more. It's always fun to get to know your horse a bit more!!! I would have been totally lost if it wasn't for our amazing friends Jacq and Dirk giving us advice the entire way! I don't know what I would have done without them!!!! I can't thank them enough!
Am I happy that my horse is lame and that I was out of the saddle for a while??- No, Of course not. But I AM happy that I got this great learning experience out of the situation! When you think about it, a month and a half of a lame horse is not that bad! Some people have it a lot worse then me! Although I was offered to ride friends horses for the time Udex was lame, I had to refuse. To me it is just not the same, I don't want it any other way if I can't have Udex! I really love my horse!! He may be the most energetic boy I know, he may be the hardest horse to sit, and he may be the only horse that can embarrass me senseless... but you know, that's my horse, and I absolutely love the fact he is all that, and so much more. That's what makes Udex; Udex!!! I am so happy to have such an amazing horsey!! (-: I love you Udex!! (-:
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Last thursday I got my new tack. New saddle, new bridle, new girth, new breast-plate, and a new special saddle pad! I guess you could say the pad has imitation muscles in it. There are special slots where you can take the foam/gel inserts in and out to make a certain part a bit thicker, or not as thick. On a horse with no topline it's perfect! Like I said, it acts as the muscle that isn't there. It's a wonderful invention and you can really feel that Udex is much happier with it. He has not thrown his head a once since I've had him in this saddle. I can understand where passiers get their good reviews from! Best saddle I've ever sat in! Makes sitting such a horse like Udex comfortable!! Crazy- I know. Udex also goes totally round now and doesn't hollow out his back. Everything with him is so perfect! Even putting the bridle on! He's feeling a lot more comfy with his new bit and bridle and stands like a normal horse for that. Today while I was grooming him all the other horses were galloping and crow-hoping.
