Lameness strikes again
I went to ride today and when I got on Leo he didn't feel right. I put him on the lunge and he was dead-lame at the trot - left hind. I am still quite surprised because Leo had a very light work week.
Sunday Leo had off (he pulled a shoe again). Monday we went on a trail ride. Tuesday, we had a lesson with Sally; Leo was a little off at first but worked out of it so we proceeded with our lesson. He jumped great! Sally and I discussed her recommendations for starting Leo on Pentosan (anti-inflammatory) and Estrone (used to tighten ligaments). I rode Leo Wednesday on the flat in the indoor and he was fine. Then he had off Thursday. So in total, he had 3 rides this week!
Liz came out to see what was going on. Left stifle and the lower leg / tendons palpated fine but Leo was very reactive in his left hip. Leo came out of his stall lame at the walk, but got progressively better the longer he stayed on the lunge. In our jump lesson we didn't jump high, but we were working on tight turns to help balance Leo and get him to shift his weight back. Liz said that could have made him sore, but it just doesn't make sense that Leo is getting sore from a single jump lesson, but comes out of a competition fine. A similar event happened in the beginning of June. Kristy rode him once while I was out of town. When she went to ride him a second time, he was lame - left hind. He got 4 days off and was fine.
I had Liz draw blood to test for Lymes. He's going to get the weekend off and we're going to wait for the Lymes test results before proceeding with any expensive imaging work.
I'm at a loss at this point. Could his feet be out of balance? Does he need to go in private turnout in a smaller pasture so he doesn't run around so much? This has been an incredibly frustrating 12 months.
Sunday Leo had off (he pulled a shoe again). Monday we went on a trail ride. Tuesday, we had a lesson with Sally; Leo was a little off at first but worked out of it so we proceeded with our lesson. He jumped great! Sally and I discussed her recommendations for starting Leo on Pentosan (anti-inflammatory) and Estrone (used to tighten ligaments). I rode Leo Wednesday on the flat in the indoor and he was fine. Then he had off Thursday. So in total, he had 3 rides this week!
Liz came out to see what was going on. Left stifle and the lower leg / tendons palpated fine but Leo was very reactive in his left hip. Leo came out of his stall lame at the walk, but got progressively better the longer he stayed on the lunge. In our jump lesson we didn't jump high, but we were working on tight turns to help balance Leo and get him to shift his weight back. Liz said that could have made him sore, but it just doesn't make sense that Leo is getting sore from a single jump lesson, but comes out of a competition fine. A similar event happened in the beginning of June. Kristy rode him once while I was out of town. When she went to ride him a second time, he was lame - left hind. He got 4 days off and was fine.
I had Liz draw blood to test for Lymes. He's going to get the weekend off and we're going to wait for the Lymes test results before proceeding with any expensive imaging work.
I'm at a loss at this point. Could his feet be out of balance? Does he need to go in private turnout in a smaller pasture so he doesn't run around so much? This has been an incredibly frustrating 12 months.
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