Tag: lameness

Signed off

I’ve had the best start to September! Buddy flew through his lameness retest this morning. He’s been signed off by the vets! Hurrah!!

We now have permission leave the ground again. Only 30cm initially, but building up to 50cm in a couple of weeks. As long as there are no further issues, we have the green light to crack on. Now I just need to keep Buddy from falling over the ‘trip / spook hazard’ heights for a bit.

I’m so relieved, emotional and excited all at the same time. This has been my first real experience of dealing with an injury like this. So it’s been a long 16 weeks from diagnosis to now.

Buddy’s support team have been in full force. It shows that with the right people around you, you can overcome anything. What is it they say about it takes a tribe. Well I am forever grateful to mine. Thank you for caring for Buddy so well and putting an arm around me when I wasn’t sure what was going on.

There have been so many people who’ve checked in on us too. So many have come on this journey with us. Thank you. It means so much knowing I have good people in my corner.

The downside to not riding as much is that I am feeling it now we are building up the work. I’m about 2/10th lame I’d say. My fitness has dropped off too, so we’ll both be blowing to start off with.

So it’s onwards and upwards!! For us both.

V-Day

Today has been V-Day for Buddy. After nearly 5 weeks, he’s still not right. So I took him to a lameness locator clinic being held by my Vets. I was fascinated by the process (mixed with mild panic, heart-racing anxiety and a sick feeling most of the time).

Let’s start with the good news. Buddy has sustained an injury that he will recover from. We will still be able to do the things we were doing. He’s going to need some further treatment, fancy shoes and a lot of rehabilitation.

Now the bad news. It could take 6-8 months for him to recover fully. Now we all know that patience isn’t my strong point. Looks like I going to have to embrace a slower pace with my little boy for the coming months.

Buddy was a model patient. He took it all in his stride. Given he’s had nearly 3 weeks off work, I wasn’t sure what to expect when they lunged him. He was as good as gold. Even in the torrential rain.

When the three sensors he was wearing showed low grade lameness in all 4 legs, my sick feeling turned into nearly vomiting in the corner. More data was needed. So more trotting for Buddy.

We knew his off fore was the issue. The data confirmed this. After 3 nerve blocks, his lameness was improved by 72%! And the hind leg lameness was all but gone.

X-rays were clear. So scans next. They showed an injury to one of his ligaments. It looks like an old injury that had been aggravated. But it was healing so the time out was helping.

It was a very long day. Quite the emotional rollercoaster too. I’m so relieved as I had 101 possible outcomes running through my head.

Basically, Buddy has twisted his ankle and needs time to recover fully before we can get going again.

He has a few more people in his fan club, loved the snacks and got a free Willy wash while he was sedated.

The road to recovery starts tomorrow. Tonight I’m shattered…