Update On Deuce...and Bo (LONG)

Finally, my update on Deuce! I have a lot of pictures, so I tried to choose the best, but since I have quite a few I will put them in small. Just click on then to see them full size. :)

Deuce's problem(s) really started showing up on June 13th. (My original post about that was June 16th.) When I rode him that day, he would walk a few steps and then park out like he needed to pee. Each time I got up off his back, but he would just stand there and not do anything. I even took him over to the area in the pasture where he likes to pee, and it was then that my husband and a friend told me he wasn't even dropping, and he was even going onto his tiptoes behind. I tried once more and walked him a few steps, and then got off and started trying to figure out what was wrong.

When I untacked Deuce I palpated his back and it didn't seem all that sore. He was not acting colicky. I had my husband jog him out for me, and Deuce didn't appear to be lame. Over the course of the next couple of days I lunged him (he didn't want to lunge to the left but didn't look lame either), I did flexions on him to check for lameness. I cleaned his sheath, and the bean was pretty small. He would occasionally park out, but otherwise everything was pretty vague. Checking the saddle fit was on my list but I had not done that yet. So I let him hang out in his pasture and didn't do much of anything with him for three weeks. I decided to go ahead and get his teeth floated though, especially since I am using a bitless bridle on him.

Monday morning, July 7th, I got Deuce out to go to the vet, Dr. Kim Gemeinhardt. I ran my hand down his back, and was horrified. He was SO SORE, I felt TERRIBLE. I would not have been letting him just stand there and be miserable if I had realized he was getting that much worse!

When we got to the vet and walked Deuce in onto the pavement, another thing became apparent. His feet were shod at different angles! It was hard to see at the barn on a soft grassy surface, but really obvious on the flat level pavement!

The vet did an exam and Deuce was really back sore, of course. I told her about him not wanting to lunge to the left, and she got him to do it although he wasn't happy about it. When he turned to change direction he was obviously lame behind. She did the flexions, and he was negative. She concluded the lameness was coming from his back: each flexion stressed the other side, therefore the flexions were negative. The back lameness is coming from his unbalanced feet.

We then took him in and floated his teeth. She does the really good floating with the McPherson speculum and power floats. Deuce has a mighty fine set of 'chompers' on him now! We got some good pictures, too.

While Deuce was having his teeth floated, I had a realization. The day Deuce started parking out with me, his shoes had been reset. They had been on for six weeks, and it was the first time Deuce had been shod with four shoes. When he had shoes before it was only on the front, and that was over a year earlier with a different farrier. Then he had gotten worse over the next three weeks with NO work. His shoes had been on a total of nine weeks at that point. So the plan was to have his shoes pulled and re-evaluate in four to six weeks. The vet recommended a farrier, and he came out today and pulled the shoes and trimmed Deuce and balanced him properly.

Deuce was lame in the right front tonight, but he had a big change today. I poulticed him in case he is tender from having his shoes pulled. I talked to the farrier, and if he doesn't improve by the first of the week we will re-evaluate and see if he needs the front shoes back on for a while.

Deuce also had blood work done. The vet let me pull the blood! :) I know, relatively speaking it is not a big deal, but it has just been so long since I have been able to do anything, I was excited! We also did a urinalysis, especially after I told the vet how much he tends to drop. He does it ALL the time. The blood work had elevated levels indicating muscle damage, which was not surprising considering how terribly sore Deuce's back was. The urinalysis showed crystals present.

Deuce will be put on Vitamin C to change the pH of his urine to help with the crystals/stones. There is not much else that can be done, because the crystals are due to the water in this area. He will be re-evaluated in three and a half to four weeks for his feet. The farrier wants to see him in four weeks, but if he hasn't improved a lot in three and a half weeks we will plan to re-evaluate at the vet's office to do x-rays also. When he is feeling better, I will take him to have his saddle fit.

There is an outside chance that this all could be due to something worse, so please send good thoughts, vibes, prayers, jingles, etc. our way! Thank you! :) I have really wanted to ride this summer and had great plans to, but sometimes things happen to change our best laid plans.

I have additional news, too. My friend's horse, the Paso that I sometimes ride, Bo (I posted about him on June 24th) got hurt today. His left front got wrapped up and caught in barbed wire. [I HATE that stuff, and it is by far the worst thing about where I board. My paranoia has been re-ignited now. I would move Deuce somewhere else in a heartbeat, except my board is only $50 a month! :0 With the economy the way it is right now, things are SO tight.]

Anyway, Bo cut his left front on the inside above his coronary band, but the cut crosses the coronary band in the back and goes into the frog. It is a bad cut in a bad place. The good news is the vet says she has seen worse, although this one is right up there. So Bo is also out of commission and in the horsey hospital tonight. He and his owner also need all the good thoughts, vibes, prayers, jingles, etc. too! I would post a picture of the wound, but if Mandros's wound was too graphic to post I am afraid I will gross someone out! If you want to see it, PM me with your email address. :)