"a little janky"

As you may well know, I tend to have a fairly open mind when it comes to medical interventions related to my horse's soundness. In fact, last year I wrote a whole post on my experience with joint injections and why I do what I do with Charlie. So I won't reinvent that wheel today.  

oh my goodness gracious, it was Nap O'Clock at the OK Corral! 

Suffice it to say, we've gotten ourselves onto a fairly regular schedule at this point -- with our annual maintenance appointment more or less aligned with spring time. 

why do i always pic the nicest days to condemn charlie to a little temporary stall rest??

Actually, before last year, we'd done the injections in the fall, which always kinda felt a bit like a waste --- why go through all that maintenance only to end up laying low for a few months? So last year we held off through the winter, going a bit longer between treatments than I'd done before. Which made me wonder if maybe something like a 14-15 month cycle was actually better for Charlie at this point? 

omg so cute tho, and so dirty <3

But.... We started jumping more regularly again (finally getting into lessons omg!), and Charlie made it clear in our last lesson that he was ready - by being notably reluctant to do his lead changes, esp compared to even just the two or three weeks prior. And, of course, y'all saw him at our recent dressage clinic where he 100% chose violence lol. 

So. Ok, buddy, we hear you. It's time for the juice. 

we always do a full set of flexions just to see where he's at

I'm grateful that we've had the same vet for the last few years too. She's been treating Charlie for his various chronic aches and pains, and has also seen him in times of more acute discomfort. For me, that continuity in care is reassuring and gives me confidence that we've always got our eyes on the big picture. 

As always, she put Charlie through a whole battery of flexion tests -- starting up front, going low to high, then moving to the hind end. We would have hoof tested too, except yay Charlie got his hoof pads on for the season last week! 

pictured: artist's rendition of "where he's at" after the hock flexion

Based on the dressage judge's feedback last week, I'd sorta spiraled into a deep dark pit of "omg what if it's this? or that?! maybe we should inject everything from the eyeballs down!!1!" 

But. Ya know. My vet is practical. She figured we'd start with Charlie's known boogeyman, and then reassess after that. Flexions confirmed the wisdom of that approach, when he was more or less fine through it all, until the hocks. Wherein she deemed him "a little janky" behind haha. 

this is an older pic, but ya know. same shit, different day, right? 

One of these days we'll get rads of Charlie's front feet to make sure all is well in that world, and it's probably likely that we'll do his coffins again at some point or another. But not today. On this day, Charlie gave us no reason to believe the simplest answer wasn't also the correct answer: his hocks were bugging the crap outta him. 

guys. omg. guys. he was snoring and farting in perfect sync. omfg. 

Honestly I know I'm kinda trigger happy about stuff like this for Charlie. But, IMO, "treatments" are priceless -- it's the diagnostics and uncertainties of the mystery lameness that can really plunge you into a money hole. 

as always, it's recommended to have supervision from barn mgmt! 

Charlie's hock arthritis is a known and common ailment, and will not get better over time. It's just a question of mitigation and minimization, as far as I can tell. Doing everything I can to slow the progression, while also not overusing or abusing treatments that may have diminishing returns over time. 

he's good at keeping me company while the drugs wear off

Sometimes I wonder if I'll look back in 10 or 15 or 20 years or whatever, and wish I'd handled Charlie's case differently. Wished I'd been less, or maybe more?, aggressive. At this point, tho, it's impossible to tell what future me will think.

*somebody* -- not naming any names here, but -- somebody 
takes forever to wake up bc he kinda loves the high

For now, I surround myself with a variety of differing perspectives, experiences and opinions. And I try to make the best judgements I can for this horse who means everything to me. 

always wakes up with a killer case of the munchies too haha

And ya know, it helps that Charlie ain't exactly stoic haha. He is very clear when something is bothering him. The vet thinks that getting his hocks comfortable will help clear up any other systemic or referred areas of discomfort he may have felt, that the dressage judge last week may have wanted to armchair-diagnose. But ya know. If he doesn't come back into work feeling the way I want, we'll reassess! 

little bit of blood and fluid this time around, probably wasn't a day too soon

Until then, Charlie will get a couple days of bute with his dinner, and about a day and a half of stall rest before returning to normal turn out. This particular vet likes more rest than that, but, eh, we compromise lol. 

pics from earlier over the weekend. can't wait to get back to this, tho!! 

And, once he's back out again, we'll just start stepping back into work, probably slowly since there's nothing immediately on the calendar.

oh sir, you are well loved <3

Sometimes I think back to all the issues we've had with keeping this horse sound, and remind myself that he was literally lame when I bought him. Which... ya know... Is generally a thing people will often advise against. 

But damn. He's a good horse. He's extremely capable, so pleasant to be around, so safe and sane and brave, and I honestly believe he likes his life and likes jumping and running fast and going on adventures. And when he doesn't feel good, he tells me, and we work on it. 

Everyone prioritizes things a little differently when it comes to "ideals" in horses.... But ya know. This works for us. And, ahem, will hopefully continue working for us for a long time to come!