Monday, January 9, 2017

Update on Q's Suspensory

I dropped Q off Thursday morning last week for her 120-day ultrasound appointment to wrap up our monitoring of her suspensory injury.

To recap in the most concise way possible: Q came up lame at the end of August and was diagnosed with lesions near the origin of her suspensory in her left hind on September 19. (Due to a wicked year of repeated abscesses in 2 out of 3 of my horses, I had suspected it was an abscess at first. But after she didn't regain soundness after blowing a massive abscess on her RF, off to the vet we went!)

The 60-day ultrasound appointment showed improvements though there was still disorganization in the pattern of fibers.

This most recent ultrasound however showed huge improvements!

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Q was very alarmed by the AllEarsApp

When I picked Q up, the vet was out to lunch, so I didn't get a complete download of information beyond the techs telling me, "We can't tell you much other than it's definitely looking better." And hey, that's all I needed to hear at the time! Trending toward "better" is all I care about. I don't mind it taking awhile so long as it is *improving*.

Due to some turnover at my vet's practice (her second vet is leaving/has been working at another job), they've been outstandingly busy for a few months as is wont to happen with these kinds of things. I didn't anticipate dropping by to get a download on information until Monday afternoon. However, to my surprise, my vet took a few minutes Sunday morning to call me and give me an update! She reported that Q looked a LOT better this time around and that it was very hard to see any disorganization in the fibers at all on this round of ultrasounds. HURRAH! She also told me she'd be attending a specialized lameness workshop in Lexington in coming weeks that was centered around suspensory injuries. She's got me and Q in mind as she plans to attend and I'm looking forward to hearing more about the latest and greatest in the realm of suspensory research.

I'm psyched to hear that Q's doing so well and hope she continues to heal and get stronger in coming months. So far she's had four complete months off due to this injury.

She'll get a year off from true work, but we'll be doing some short (5 to 10 minutes) in hand sessions once every week from here on out. These will not be anything exciting or crazy at all, but instead will serve mostly to remind the mare that she is NOT in charge. Her herd status coupled with the time off (read: complete freedom from anything beyond getting her hooves trimmed once every four weeks) has unfortunately resulted some very rude behaviors (e.g., biting me, excessive fidgeting when tied, protest to (read: pinned ears) having her feet handled/certain body parts groomed, and constant wide-eyed and ear-swiveling concern for where her herdmates are at all times) that I absolutely do not tolerate.

I'm so relieved we've had a nice linear healing trend through these first 4+ months following the injury. I hope that this trend will continue into the future.

30 comments:

  1. Great news! Suspensories are soooo frustrating! Glad it is healing well!

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    1. They are so very frustrating! I'm excited it's been healing so well.

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  2. This is the best news!! I'm glad to hear it's going smoothly and hope it stays that way. I'm sure you'll be glad to resume regular handling and reinstalling manners, too.

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    1. I am excited to feel free to toodle around with her a bit more. I'm sure vacation has been fun for her, but it's time to put her polite thinking brain back into place.

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  3. So much yay for progress! Glad to hear it's healing.

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  4. Hooray for good news! Courage had 4-5 weeks off and went completely feral, so best of luck getting yours back on the wagon. ;-)

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    1. I think I'll need to find her a new wagon. Ugh. At least she does remember how to trailer politely as we have done that to get to and from the ultrasound appointments. Small victories?

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  5. Awesome, good news! Not so excited about the feral pony, but I'm sure you can knock some sense back into her soon ;)

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    1. She bites me again and she might get knocked quite literally ;-)

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  6. I'm so relieved to read this!!!!!! Yay Q mare!!!

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    1. I'm also so very relieved. I didn't get my hopes up until this ultrasound happened. I've hardly even let myself *look* at that leg because I was a'feared.

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  7. It's great that you can finally do a bit of groundwork with her again, and that she's continuing to improve!

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  8. That's awesome news, congratulations!

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  9. I'm celebrating right along with you- so relieved to hear she is getting better and better! Q's regression in ground manners sounds par for the course- Quest also needed a quick manners refresher during her time off, didn't help that I could only see her once a week back at the old barn....Another reason why I'm so glad I moved her close to home

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    1. Lawlz. I have zero excuses for her regression beyond not touching her because I thought I'd break her more. I live 12-15 minutes from her and even when I do go out (2-4x/week), I just have been ignoring her. Totally my fault - but I never expected this to happen. Two steps forward....

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  10. AAAAAAHHH I had missed this post!!!!! This is SO GOOD TO HEAR! (Why didn't you tell me?? :P)

    And hey, even with daily touching my Marebeast still has regressions with every injury/layup. So don't feel guilty at all there. They get their act together real quick as soon as you're able to address the behaviors. :D

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