Camaro and I have come to a road block. Namely, his body. Since several weeks ago, he's been lame at the trot to varying degrees. Bute didn't fix it. Rest (okay, one week of nothing after several weeks of 1 weekly ride at walk and trying to longe him 1 or 2 more times each week) didn't fix it. Time to take in right in the wallet, and call out the vet.
She saw him on Monday of this week. Conducted a very thorough lameness exam, followed by radiographs of his front feet (fine, nothing new there) and several views of his left front knee (not fine, some slight joint remodeling evident).
Looks like age, plus messing around in the slippery footing of his turnout (right before things actually froze for several weeks straight), and Camaro tweaked his knee. Thankfully no tendon or ligament injury, but there is some mucking up of the joint.
Well, that explains that. Good to have root caused our mystery lameness. Coupled with the slight hock soreness he's been having since Fall--and increased soreness in the right hock (the diagonal pair of the left knee) this month--I'm no longer debating whether to put him on meds for joint health. He's coming 14 this year, we've progressed in our training to where I'm asking him for a lot more bend in his joints than a year ago, and it's just time.
He got his first shot of Legend yesterday. Two more loading doses a week apart ($$ ouch my bank account) and he'll be ready to drop to a once-a-month injection.
Meanwhile, we are under strict orders for no riding and no longeing. Straight-line hand walking (or gentle curves following the arena walls) for 5-7 sessions followed by long-lining (again, straight line or following arena perimeter) for 5-7 more sessions before we even think about putting me up on his back. Hopefully by the time he's had his third dose of Legend we'll see enough improvement that he and I will get the green light for light riding at the walk.
I'm trying to keep positive. All that hand walking and long-lining are hopefully going to help me lose some of the weight I've gained in the last few months.
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