Lameness & Dandelions

This was Jingle about 3 weeks ago, all saddled up after a good ride.

Now, after a little over two weeks, my horse is still lame. How exceptionally frustrating. Even more annoying is Jingle is only very slightly off on his front left. Some days he's maybe functioning at 95% of his capacity, whereas at his worst he was still functioning at around 85%.

A lame Jingle means a lot of driving to the barn to sit and watch and worry about my pony...

my oversized co-pilot generally tags along for these adventures.

What a believe started this whole lameness issue was me putting Jingle out to pasture. All winter he was out with mares during the day, and then stalled during the evening. Well, it turns out that when mares go into heat my very mild-mannered, polite gelding turns into a bit of a wannabe stallion. Uh-oh. So, he was banished to a tiny paddock during the day and hand-walked in at night. I had always planned to put Jingle outside for Spring and Summer, so the timing worked out well. Jingle went out with Brigitte's gelding, Mac, and all seemed well. The boys were getting along, the sun was shining, life was good... then, rain, a few weeks of it..

"I will roll in this puddle mahm, I will."

Well I suspect that all their super-funzies gallivanting created a situation where my horses leg slipped one way and his body slipped the other. Wahbam. Lame horse.

I put Jingle on a three day round of bute, it didn't seem to help. In the process he was an absolute ass-face when it came to tube-bute, but I happily discovered my horse could care less about added powder in his grain.

"What iz this? It smells like rockets and drugs"

"Meh, I'll eat it"

"Mac is so jealous of me and how pretty and special I am, laaadeedaa"

If there was any inflammation from a pulled muscle, bute didn't seem to help, nor did it even mask any of Jingle's offness. My farrier came out, found a slight pulse and some hoof tenderness, so we chased an abscess. Oh man, did I ever want it to be an abscess... easypeasylemonsqueezy.

I also discovered during this time that Walmart now has a large variety of fun coloured duct-tape. So Jingle got really fun bright turquoise vet-wrap and party cheetah duct-tape - hurray for my pony princess!

It wasn't an abscess, a week later my horse is no worse and no better than he was a week previous. The only thing that came from our jaunt down poultice-lane was me, a blubbering mess, getting my farrier to educate me on all the different hoof-related diseases and ailments after a boarder (stupidly) asked me "Are you sure it's an abscess, or has he foundered?" Cue smug "I know everything" look from her, cue Louisa calling her farrier in a total strung-out mess "OMG IS HIS COFFIN BONE ROTATED?!?!!?!?!?!" No. It's not. Coffin bone is good.

So, I sucked it up and called the vet, only to discover that the top lameness guys wont travel out "as far as my barn" (45 minutes... pretty sure the receptionist thinks my barn is a ranch in the mountains). The other vets were all booked straight for a week and a half, except for the two days I can't make it to the barn during the day. So, we have a vet appointment for Monday the 24.

In the mean-time, I had an osteopath out to look at my boy. No surprise he was tense and needed adjustments EVERYWHERE. She did notice that his withers were very misaligned and needed adjustment, his left elbow was also locked, and he had a lot of tension in his shoulder. All points lead to a messed up shoulder, and I was hoping that she was my cure. She worked on him for over an hour (something that really impressed me), and I sincerely hoped that he would be sound when I returned. He was moving better and seemed in better spirits after his adjustment. 

(Except for a slight episode where I left him to walk her to her car and he pulled back and went for a joy-gallop on the barn's front lawn... lovely.. this is my life)

Two days later... no beuno. 

fuck.

I don't have the money for this. I want my horse to be sound.

So, that's my Jingle-update.

Here's some really nice photos I took of him today in the dandelions. He loves dandelions, he'll eat them for hours and hours on end, avoiding the grass and just nibbling on the flowers. He is the most handsome. I love him. I just want him to get better. Sigh.

Nobody likes the trip to the dentist...

.... and that goes for me, and my horse.

The dentist came out yesterday, and I got him to check Jingle. As I detailed in my last post, he's been shaking his head, and generally not exactly being a calm and collected horse - especially when I ask for a remote bit of contact. After I purchased him the first thing I did was get a Vet out, who also floated his teeth. He's a respected vet, and works with the University to train vet-med students. I'm sure I've said it 16 million times already, so bear with me, but when Jingle was 5 he was sent to a trainer, upon returning, they told his previous owners he had an "abscess" in his jaw. In reality, he had severely fractured his jaw on his left side, and it had been re-set without proper veterinary care. Fast-forward to visit from the vet. I was really nervous, I didn't want to hear my horse was in pain, I didn't want to hear that he'd never be ridable, I had a million thoughts in my mind, all of which were pretty grim and dark. The vet floated him, took off a couple waves and hooks, and stated that aside from slightly pointed in back molars (which he claimed to be a trait found in foundation bred paint horses), and his jaw being 7 mm off, Jingle was in great health and that his jaw would probably align over time. It all sounded too good to be true, but I really just desperately wanted it to be true.

Fast forward to the Dentist taking a look at him. At first he said that Jingle would never take a bit properly, the fracture is on the left side, but he also has trauma to his jaw on the right side (not as noticeable). Then, he delved deeper into my sedated horses mouth, he let me put my hand into Jingle's mouth and for the first time I felt the spot where the fracture had occurred - it has resulted in a big dip in his jaw. One of the teeth is also pointed outwards, probably as a result from the trauma. Due to this dip, one of his teeth on the top of his mouth, has more room to erupt, and has become pointed, and was digging into the bottom of his mouth. This, my dentist said, caused a large amount of pressure build-up. He filed down the erupted tooth, as well as floated some waves he found in the back and in the front. He changed his tune and said that I should attempt to ride Jingle in a bit for now, so for the next 5-6 rides I'm suppose to take it slow, and see how he responds. Basically, his mouth will feel, to him, completely different. It makes sense as to why he was shaking his head, the noseband clamped down his mouth, and the erupted tooth was causing all that pressure to build and then not be able to escape. The fact that Jingle attempts to open his mouth and avoid the bit every time I ask for contact is most definitely in response to how much pressure he was feeling inside his mouth.

He also told me to start doing some basic massage on his head and neck, and to use Apple Cider Vinegar to draw any heat out of his muscles after a workout. (I am a huge fan of ACV - I should write a post about all the horse-related things I use it for!) I did it yesterday after he was out of his sedation and he seemed relaxed and happy for me to rub on him for awhile. The dentist said that with how bad the fracture had been, tendons and muscles were probably severed and pulled, and then grew back differently. He has a hard time going to the right, and his jaw was very tight before the Dentist worked on him - afterwards I noticed a considerable difference in the movement he now has in his jaw, which makes me happy.

The Dentist said Jingle will be a 6 month maintenance type of horse, which doesn't bother me. That is what I expected all along. He also said that when the tooth erupts again (as it will, he said teeth erupt 4-8 mm every month or so!) I'll know right away when Jingle starts feeling that build-up of pressure. He also said that Jingle isn't in pain, especially now, and that a lot of his behaviours are probably learned from when he was in pain as a 5 year old. I can't help but worry though, horses, like humans, can have a lot of issues correlated with jaw problems. I'm especially worried about his TMJ muscles, he can't let me know if he has a headache, or a jaw ache, or if he just feels out of sorts you know? That's the hardest thing with horses - they just don't have a way of telling you, clear as day, "Mom, this hurts".

At one point, the Dentist looked at me and said, "He'll never be your show horse", which is true, and I always knew he wasn't destined to be. However, it still stung, it just kind of twisted that knife in my stomach you know? My only dream for Jingle was to one day come to the barn and watch some little girl learn how to ride on him. I just want him to be happy, healthy, pain-free, and ultimately yeah, I wanted him to be dead-broke.

I was really sad yesterday, sad for my poor horse who went off to some wonky trainer and returned with a horribly broken jaw, and no veterinary care. Sad for my horse who isn't able to communicate with me when his head hurts, or when he is experiencing pain, or when he needs to see the dentist right away...

But, you know what? He's alive, and he's happy, and that's all that matters. Plus - I have a better knowledge now of what is going on with all his muscles and tendons, so I'm formulating a horsie game plan.
1) Research safe stretch and massage techniques that I can use on him on a regular basis
2) I'm moving him inside for the winter, meaning he can be fed grain if I want, so I'm going to research if I can put him on some supplements that might relieve any headache-y, jaw pain related issues.
3) Find a really good reputable equine massage/chiro and bring them in every six-eight weeks to look at him.
4) I honestly don't care if my horse is ridden in a bridle, bitless, bridless, whoever whatever whichever works. So, if it comes down to the bit not working for him - you know he's going to try every form of bitless bridle I can find until I find one that works for him. I asked the Dentist if the added pressure on the actual structure of his jaw from a bitless would effect him, or cause him any pain, and he said no - so hopefully if an answer doesn't lie in any of the above + a bit, the answer will be found in all of the above + a bitless bridle.

&, ya, it also sucks I spent a lot of money in July to have him looked at, by someone I thought was reputable, and it turns out that he really had no idea what he was looking at - which is also scary. Although, even my Dentist said the guy I had out was, and is, a really good Vet. The hard thing with Vets who do dental work is that they barely cover dentistry in Vet school, "Dentists" take extensive courses, and then on top of that very extensive training. My dentist said when he runs courses they do a bare minimum week of school-stuff, and then float over 300 horses! Insane. I was happy that my barn has the Dentist we do, he definitely knew what he was looking at, and how to deal with it, and I especially appreciated his honestly. Hearing my horse may never be perfect is hard to hear, but I at least know the truth, and we can grow from there.