So on the way home from the farm last night I check my email (yay for phones will internet) and find an one from the caretakers:
"Sorry to have to say this, but Cody is extremely lame. He can hardly walk - it's terrible to watch. We've tried every combination of bute/feed/water/applesauce/molasses/paste all weekend long - but he will only eat a small fraction of whatever it is and refuse the rest. Axel is looking sore again, too. We gave him bute and applesauce in his feed and he ate most of it (all except 1/2 cup maybe). Hopefully he'll work out whatever that's about overnight!"
So I convinced Jeff to swing by the ranch on the way into the cities so I could determine if I needed to make a call to the vet or not. Axel was happily eating hay in the furthest hay feeder and probably pretty pleased that everyone else came up to see what was going on so he could stay back and eat in peace. His lameness just being the usual flare up of his ringbone. Cody, on the other hand, was standing in the paddock trying his best to keep the flies away without moving. I asked him to walk and reluctantly he moved forward, very slow, sore, and tentative. However, not nearly as bad as the email had sounded. Apparently they had some bute paste and managed to get at least some into his system earlier in the day so he wasn't nearly as off as he had been. Patti came out and walked him for me after I picked out his hooves. There was no heat or pulse but he still stands like he's foundering. His appetite is fine and he's drinking water like normal, just takes him longer to decided that it's worth the pain to walk to the feeder or water tank. I tried his boots on but that didn't provide an immediate improvement. He didn't "improve" much with walking but became less tentative the more he moved around. He picked up both feet for me, let me stretch him and bend him and had no issues with any of that. So we're still thinking shoulders.
Patti is borrowing some bute tablets to try tonight instead. Our thought is maybe the unflavored is going to be easier to conceal than the apparently nasty apple flavored bute he won't eat now. I don't think I'll be having the vet out at least for now, I'm pretty sure he'll suggest bute so we already have that covered we just need to figure out how to get him to eat it. We might try some cold hosing and maybe some linament rubs on his shoulders to see if that does anything.
After some discussion with Steph we think maybe what is happening is that his hoof angles have changed too much. His toes have been pretty long lately with the new farrier and with his heels getting lower and lower the change in angle might be causing him pain up in his shoulders. It seems like the diagnosis fits. So right now we're going to get bute in him, try and file down his toes bit by bit before the farrier returns, I'm going to meet with the farrier this time and see what he thinks (he'll probably need to be shod with wedges til winter to get the angles back), put him on Axel's supplement when the bute fiasco is over, and possibly even add some DC-Y to his diet (which would be good for Axel too but spendy so we'll see). Our other thought is to put him in those boots for a week of turn out and see if that helps. I don't want to do all of this right away or we won't know what is helping so it'll be a matter of trying different things.
But it looks like I'll be riding Kiko or Kalani for a little while at least until Axel is feeling okay again.
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