First Eowyn (yearling Hano/Shire homebred filly) suffered a significant laceration to her right flank which healed over six weeks after becoming infected (despite antibiotics) and dehiscing. She’s fine functionally now, although her gorgeousness is now marred by a significant linear scar on that flank.
Then at the end of June Panache (Argentinian WBx who I rescued as a rain-rotty long yearling and trained myself) suddenly colicked and died later that evening from a nephrosplenic entrapment. He was only rising 8 yrs old (his birthday was in August) and was set to debut at Second Level through the summer.
Only two weeks later, as everyone knows, Finn (5 yr old Hano/Shire homebred gelding) had that incredibly awful & huge injury to his left shoulder which is still healing but at least it’s on the home stretch and he’s been off stall rest for a couple of weeks now.
Now, as of yesterday, Jet, my unicorn, once-in-a-lifetime 14 yr old Friesian/Percheron gelding, came up lame in his LF. I cold hosed him, wrapped him, and put him in a stall until later today when my vet could come out and have a look. I had a gut feeling that it wasn’t good, and I was right. Ultrasound confirmed a suspensory ligament injury. He’s now on stall rest for at least a month, cold hosing, daily wraps, anti-inflammatories, and we’re arranging shockwave therapy as soon as possible. Return to work will be slow & very gradual/graduated. As many of you know, this sort of injury can turn into the “gift that keeps on giving” down the road with pesky unsoundness showing up here & there. But, at least we caught it early and it isn’t severe from the appearance on ultrasound, so he has the best possible chance he can have to fully recover.
And here I thought we’d be schooling PSG this winter.
Here he is getting his legs ultrasounded:
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Now, for the first time in over a decade, I have NO horses to ride. I had three horses to ride in June, now none. At least Finn is on the tail end of his rehab so I’ll be VERY slowly bringing him back to work through October and seeing how he does with that.
My heart feels unspeakably heavy & sad. Jet is my “one in a million” horse, and he’s had so many successes in his career. I truly hope that his recovery & rehab go well.
Back to cleaning stalls, daily leg wraps, daily cold hosing, medication (anti-inflammatory meds) ... *big big sigh* ...
