Last Shot for April

Axel had his last shot for April last night. That completes his month of 7 shots in the loading period. He'll just get one a month from now on. He's still sore on that front right knee though so I'm not sure what's up with that. If I can find some natural rubber gloves I might try the DMSO and see if he can tolerate that. Otherwise in a month when I get more Adequan I'll get some Surpass as well. Until then we'll keep up with the lunging and see if just some exercise and moving helps him feel better.

His head swelling seems to have gone down as well so I'm hoping that doesn't come back randomly. His mud fever is getting a bit better as well. I didn't really pick any scabs last night, a few came off when I was brushing and what not but I did scrub his legs with the Norwex cloth again. I'd like to shave more hair off his feet again but the scabs are kind of making that difficult. Next spring I'm going to shave his feet as early as possible and just keep scrubbing with the Norwex cloth and see if that will keep away the mud fever to begin with. The Norwex lady said that she never heard of a person using the cloths in the barn but at the very least I can leave it in the barn and it doesn't stink. If the cloths are supposed to get ride of acne causing bacteria and what not why not try it on mud fever bacteria!

2 More to Go

Just two more shots for Axel left for this month and then we'll be going monthly or maybe every 3 months, we'll see. He's definitely not "miraculously healed" so far. From the sounds of it, this will just help him not get worse.

So apparently a few days of not grooming + rain = weird half shedding wet curly horse. So after a very long session of grooming and standing in the barn aisle with Logan we went into the arena for a little work. I forgot I was going to vet wrap a wet cloth on his legs to soften up the scabs, I'll do that the next time I have some time.

Overall he's still gimpy at the trot. And he's not really trying very hard. It'll be difficult to distinguish between lazy and hurting for a while I think. He's getting better at staying out on the circle when we lunge at the walk so that's a good side effect and we spent some time working on "walk up" so that he's not just lumbering along at a snail's pace. He is sound at the walk and not taking short steps which is an improvement over this winter. And I'm still not working him very long on the lunge, I was kind of hoping he'd show up sound one of these days but I think it'll be a slow process. I'm sort of paranoid to try the DMSO even though it seems to work for a lot of people's horses and Axel is pretty tolerant. I for sure can't use it on his ringbone since he's covered in scratches right now but perhaps I can try a bit on his sore knee and see if it does anything.

He really needs to start moving around, the small paddock isn't exactly helping matters but it's at least keeping the spring crazies to a minimum. After a few minutes of lunging walk and trot I scrubbed his back legs again and we took a walk down the road and grazed for a few minutes in the ditch. Axel's been a bit more swollen the past week so I'm not sure what that's about. I'll be happy when he's off the round bale. Then maybe we'll be able to tell the difference between fat and swollen.

Back on Track

Tuesday I just ran out and gave Axel his shot and some MSM. They were back in the pasture for the night since it was raining and there is no shelter in the small paddock. Cody and Vinnie were out in the rain grazing and Axel was hiding in the back of the lean-to.

Friday the barn was busy. Riley had some people out interested in buying him. Stitch and Cody2 were out riding on the road. I had Cody in the aisle for a few minutes to groom and then had Axel in to work on his back feet a bit. And A brought Vinnie in to get ready to work in the arena.

I hand walked Cody down the road ditch just up to the neighbor's property. He wasn't perfect but he was a million times better than he had been last time I rode him. I might keep that up for a while and see if he makes any progress before trying to ride him down the road alone again.

I wasn't able to get too many more scabs off Axel but the foot that I had cleaned up on Monday was doing good. I got the other foot cleaned up a little bit but it still needs work. If Axel would let me soak it that would help. Maybe this week I can wet a rag and wrap that foot with some vet wrap then he can stand there acting helpless while the scabs soften up. Easier than dealing with a bucket.

When the arena was open I went in and lunged Axel at the walk again for a few minutes with a few stints of trotting mixed in. He was looking sound at the walk but a little gimpy at the trot which was to be expected. He takes a few bad steps at the walk still but perhaps that is due to no exercise for 5 months. I ended up getting on bareback with just the halter and lead rope. Last time Axel was recovering from whatever random lameness he had he was sound at the walk but with a rider he was still lame. We did a few laps in each direction and he was pretty darned sound even with me on his back. He was very interested in looking out the open arena doors and he was a bit hard to control with just the halter but he did really well and didn't offer any unneeded feistiness. Yay Axel!

Saturday bright and early I ran out and gave Axel his 4th Adequan shot before heading up to the We Can Ride tack sale. I ended up buying a few things at the sale: John Lyons rope reins, new riding tights, a foam english saddle pad, and some black saddle bags for Axel's saddle.

Sunday I went out to Murphy with A and rode Danny. Cody just won't fit in A's trailer and riding Danny was like a vacation. It's been a long time since I've had a calm trail ride. It started out a little hairy when the horses thought some hikers were going to eat them but after that everyone settled in and it was a gorgeous day.

I groomed Axel outside when we returned and then worked him a bit in the arena. He was not about to let me lunge him outside where there was grass to eat so we had to go in the arena. He was sound at the walk with the exception of a few wrong steps and he trotted a little on the lunge line. We only worked for a few minutes before I unclipped and sent him out at liberty. He went 1 lap in both directions at the trot (a bit of canter to the right - I think that was the direction). He was a little gimpy which was no surprise. Right now I just want to work him up to doing more trot and getting back into shape. He looked a bit more swollen as well which I hope is just because it's been warm and there's a lot of standing around with the round bale in the small paddock. All things considered, he's not that much off when he trots. The cranky head tossing or pawing seems to have dropped a notch and he'll trot fairly willingly when asked. I'm sure we're dealing with some laziness as well. We'll just keep plugging away.

Still Trying

Friday Jeff had a photoshoot so I had more time than usual to visit the horses before going out to the farm. Axel needed his shot and I had time to do more work than that. Both horses were pretty crusty so it took a while to get them groomed.

I put Axel in the arena (with his bell boots on) and he trotted around for a few minutes, lifting his back legs up as far as they'd go. At least he was working a little harder since he was annoyed at his boots. When he started to get lazy and just wander around I grabbed the lunge line and had him walk on a circle. I only had him work for 5 minutes total including both directions. Near the end of that 5 minutes (going counter clockwise I think) he started to get annoyed with me and fling his front legs out like he was doing the Spanish Walk. I think Axel has perhaps forgotten some of his ground manners and thinks that work (no matter how easy it is) is not on his agenda. So I'll continue to work him little by little until this first month of Adequan is over and then we'll start trotting more and maybe some riding.

Cody was crustier than Axel since he was a ball of sweat on Wednesday and rolled in the dust. I debated on what I was going to do with him when A came in to ride Vinnie. I decided to tack up Cody and just ride in the arena. He was calm in the cross ties until Vinnie went into the arena then he started to get restless. He did pretty good in the arena. I did some circles in both directions before I got on just to make sure he was paying attention to me and not Vinnie.

We walked and trotted and, if you can believe, cantered on the left lead after only 2 tries. We manged the right lead as well but it was pretty spastic and short lived. When Vinnie stopped in the middle Cody had a hard time not darting into the center to stop, we'll have to work on that more. But considering how bad our ride was on Wednesday it was a nice change, though we didn't try going outside. I'm wondering if it's worth it to get Cody walking down the road in hand instead of undersaddle.

Xrays and Teeth and Shots, Oh My!

Friday I buzzed out to the barn after work to meet up with another vet who was scheduled to do Axel's x-rays since the regular vet doesn't have a portable setup. S and a friend were getting Stitch and Cody ready to go riding but other than that it was pretty quiet on the western front. We went through a whole series of x-rays before the vet's computer decided to lock up and not save any of the pictures we had just taken. Luckily for my checkbook we then only retook a few of the different pictures since we knew what we were looking at. Axel stood pretty well but was getting fairly impatient by the end of the whole ordeal. He kept lifting up his back left foot when we'd barely touch it to put the x-ray sensor close to it.

Cody had gotten himself into something and took a big chunk out of his leg. The best we could figure was he maybe clocked it on the automatic waterer.

So the inital reading from the vet doing the x-rays were that his left knee is worse than his right and his right knee swelling/soreness isn't neccessarily from the arthritis but perhaps soft tissue. We'll see if that clears up with a bit of work and the Adequan. The hind left with ringbone is looking pretty nasty these days. One side is nearly bridged while the other side has a ways to go yet. She thought the joint itself was getting pretty narrow indicating that it was starting to fuse. Apparently as the joint fuses he might turn up lame more often/worse than usual. Once the joint fuses then he should feel pretty good.

So then Saturday the regular vet came out to do teeth and sheaths. Cody went first because we thought he'd be the toughest, might as well get that out of the way right? Cody was awesome. He scooted back a little trying to get away from the filing but hardly acted up at all and took the injection well. He got a little extra bump so the vet could clean his sheath. He had a pretty decent sized bean, maybe a bit bigger than a jelly bean, and a ton of plain ole' junk up in there. So much junk in fact he had an abrasion on his bits from it. So now he's all squeaky clean and I can't wait to see if he's a happier guy on Wednesday. Nothing major in the teeth department, only points this time. The vet had me stick my hand up in his mouth to feel some of the sharp points. I'll admit I didn't feel any points but I was a bit distracted that I had my arm up Cody's mouth and how slimy it was in there, ew. ;)

Axel did fine in the teeth department as well. He just had points as well, one in a not usual spot but nothing scary and both horse's ulcers in their cheeks from last time had heeled up fine. Axel didn't get his sheath cleaned since he's so accommodating anyway, but the vet pointed out where to look for a bean and said Axel didn't have one right then.

Both horses chilled out in the arena for a while to sober up. Walking Cody into the arena was pretty entertaining, he was swerving all over like he was drunk. It didn't take long for both of them to "come to" and get to go back outside. I missed the initial turn out of the new Clyde that J picked up at the sale and Cody and Axel didn't seem to even notice that he was on the other side of the fence. Oh well.

On Sunday we got back from the farm around 8 and ran out to give Axel his first shot of Adequan. He was very good about it and didn't even flinch when I put in the needle, though I wasn't surprised. I'm still a little paranoid, like maybe I didn't pull back enough to really see if the syringe was in a vein by accident, or other ridiculous notions. I'm sure by the time this month is over I'll be a lot less paranoid about giving injections. Once a year doesn't quite have the same effect as once every 4 days.

Vet Visit #1

Today the vet came out for spring shots and to basically check on things. He ended up getting there early so I didn't get the full fledged grooming done that I had hoped but neither horse had rolled since I groomed last so that was good. Cody did great in a stall while I groomed Axel in the aisle. But by the time it was his turn for the vet he was pretty hyper. He had a hard time standing still for his rabies shot and coggins. He could have been much worse of course. The vet decided he has a wide blaze and not an official bald face. Just a little fun fact I guess.

Axel went last since he had the most going on. He was his usual unfazed self for the shot and blood draw. The vet doesn't do his own xrays so we didn't end up having that done. I've gotta call another vet that does that and he'll email the films. But he did have me lunge him so he could watch. Axel hasn't been lunged since the beginning of December at the latest. He was quite feisty considering he's still pretty much lame. He picks the canter over the trot since I think it hurts less. So we trotted in hand for the vet since the lunging was a bit of a bucking fest. He did a flexion test on that right front and we trotted him again, he was very lame after the flexion. So we've decided on arthritis but we'll get the films to see just how bad it is.

So we discussed some options and talked about Adequan. The vet prefers Legend but that requires a vet to administer via IV once a month. So cost + vet appointment cost + trying to schedule an appointment all the time just seems like a lot of work. So I'm going to try Adequan first. It'll be spendy as well since there's a loading time but it's still cheaper than the daily supplements. I'm so excited to get Axel feeling better. We also talked about using some surpass for when his pain is chronic. It's easier to administer (topical) than bute and doesn't risk giving him any stomach issues.

He also checked both their teeth. Cody was less than cooperative which I expected but he was able to check him out as well as Axel and they both seem like they could use a float. I expected as much since it's been probably 4 years and before that a lifetime. The last vet said they were fine but I had my doubts. So we ended up making an appointment for next Saturday for teeth floating. A little sooner than my checkbook had hoped but it'll be nice to get it done as well as a thorough sheath cleaning. And S needs to have the chiro out so I might get in on that as well for Cody.

So all in all a successful visit with a few more to come. Lots of money but it's actually cheaper down here than it was when the horses were in Jordan.

Adequan for Axel

Been doing a little research to prepare for next week's vet appointment. I plan have Axel's knees xrayed as well as his back legs where the ringbone is. Assuming his knees are just arthritic then I'm thinking we might try Adequan. From what I read it has some pretty good results. If we do the month of loading and then inject once every three months or so (since he's not ridden more than twice a week) the daily cost of the Adequan is cheaper than the 4-in-1 feed through supplement he was getting. The second year would be pennies per day. The IM injection would be easy for me to give and then we'd know that he got it all. The feed through is a bit more of a hassle of course, who knows what horse ends up eating it.

I'm actually very excited about this idea as Axel has been notoriously stiff in his movements from the moment I bought him. He's improved quite a bit with exercise but I wonder if arthritis is holding him back. I'll have to make some before/during/after videos of him to see if there are any overall changes. If this stuff works as well as some of the testimonials I've heard I could have a whole new horse on my hands, which could also mean a harder to handle horse ;) I'd guess that it's easier to rein in a horse that feels good than it is trying to get a cranky horse to cooperate.

His ringbone shouldn't be affected by the Adequan so I think I might talk to the vet about getting some Surpass for that. It's a topical NSAID that's supposed to work pretty well. It would be way easier to apply than trying to get him to eat Bute and it's not as bad on the stomach since it's topical. I could use that either when we ride or when he ends up kicking himself lame. And if I get around to making the ankle boots for him I can hopefully minimize the impact of him kicking himself.

Keep your fingers crossed. Axel is way too young to have all these issues and way too loveable to be in such a bad mood all the time.