On the Mend

So since I posted last a couple weeks ago Duck has been pretty much on rest. The day after my post the vet came out to do shots, teeth etc, and I wanted her to check out Duck's left knee. She had whacked it pretty hard a couple of times on her stall door back in January before I got her stall guard. Why would she whack it? Well to get to the grass of course! She figured out that if she leaned into the door with her chest and then whacked her leg against it (probably several times) she could pop the screws on the latch and get out to happily graze the hay field. I can't say I blame her. At that time the horses were in their stalls a lot (more than I like her to be) with the sloppy and cold weather.

So it hadn't fully healed or something else was going on so I had the vet do a lameness exam. She scared me again by using the "n" word, fearing that since the lameness was in the same area, the left front that it might be Navicular changes in the foot. YIKES! The vet was VERY surprised then when she did knee flexion and Duck came up extremely sore on that knee. WHEW! Anyway that meant time off, 15 days to be exact and bute (horsey aspirin).

So now we are coming off her rest time and we've pretty much just been walking. I started with hand walking and now am riding at the walk, and trotting on the straightaways sometimes. She offered a canter towards the hayfield and I went with about 12 strides because it just felt so good! But we'll see how that knee is faring tomorrow. I thought she was a bit off today, but when I flexed her knee and trotted her off she didn't seem sore to me.

So we're just going real easy and working our way back into things. I need her sound for our level 2/3 camp in June! So here's hoping she does ok. Otherwise I am going to be calling my friend Jody up and telling her to bring 2 horses instead of just one for her!

Keep it natural!