If I Knew Then What I Know Now: Part 3

Let's see, where did I leave off...

Oh, yes, with Ernie's LACK of a blow up upon his first (sort-of) turnout in a long, long time.

The old boy was perfect. Boarders were convinced I had drugged him, but I hadn't done any such thing. He was so happy to be outside and allowed to look around and see things and get a little sunshine and fresh air, I don't think he thought twice about moving too much. Albeit a Thoroughbred, Ernie has became lazy in his old age. He'd much rather preserve energy and stand around all day than run and frolic and play. I feel bad for Stella sometimes; I can tell she wants to play so badly, but her playmate is not exactly the most suited.

We continued this routine well into the rest of his recovery. I started to see my horse come back; he remained on the lean side (as he does to this day), but got that "bloom" back to his coat and eye. He ate all day long, took naps in the sun, watched horses being ridden, and got to enjoy the general barn commotion. After about month 5, I started hand-grazing a couple times a week. Technically, Ernie wasn't cleared to leave a stall yet. Technically, he wasn't even supposed to be in the paddock situation. But I'd already broken all the traditional rules, what did I care?

I'd be judiciously wrapping and applying the steroid cream the last few months. Ernie never went a day without the wraps. In the few hours I'd left them off one day after I'd bathed him, his fetlocks had puffed up like balloons. There was hardly any heat, oddly enough, just lots and lots of swelling. I'd also begun to wean him slightly off the Bute. I don't give out Bute freely, especially to a horse whose personality already predisposes him to stomach ulcers. Around month 5, Ernie was down to a just under a half a gram a day. I'd been applying liniment and wrapping the other leg, too, in an attempt to ease some of the stress it had taken on compensating for the injured limb. Upon the 6 month ultrasound, I wasn't scared. I was terrified. I was afraid that the mean, mean vet would no sooner put the probe to my horse's leg and say "Told ya so!"

That day was a huge, huge victory in my book. The ultrasound showed an actively healing leg. One of the things we had to be on the lookout for was hardening or thickening of the ligament, which could indicate a possible onset of DSLD (Degenerative Suspensory Ligament Desmitis), a very serious disease that basically would put Ernie out of the running for any kind of work for the rest of his life and could create other problems like ringbone, acute suspensory tears, issues being shod, etc. There was a slight thickening of the papal branch, but nothing that wouldn't coincide with the natural healing process. I had been warned before that given his age, abnormalities in the healing process were a greater possibility. Otherwise, the leg was right on course in terms of healing. 3 months before, I'd been told NOTHING was happening in the leg. This was huge. I couldn't help but laugh at the vet when he asked if I'd changed anything about his case. I said I hadn't.

The next few months seemed to fly. I gave Ernie 10 months of complete rest instead of 9, to be on the safe side. Around month 9 I weaned him off the wraps, which took a while as his legs started to fill again, but Dr. Randy told me as long as they remain cool and relatively tight, the swelling and jelly-like nature of the fetlock joint would probably be permanent. To this day, Ernie still has plenty of windpuffs in that leg; they go down with wrapping and during work but come right back, and don't bother him or cause any harm other than looking kind of odd.

After 10 months, we did the final ultrasound. Ernie had managed to completely recover from the separation. The scar tissue had generated in the right places, and had actually strengthened the limb instead of weaken it. The mean vet still cautioned me against putting Ernie back to ring work. When I showed Dr. Randy the final ultrasounds and told him the other vet's prognosis, he looked at Ernie and laughed. "That horse, not have a job?" he said. "Might as well kill him now!" He knew as well as I did Ernie wouldn't take kindly to becoming a pasture potato. However, it was understood that the rehab needed to go at a snail's pace. We agreed upon a strict hand-walking schedule for a minimum of two months, beginning on soft ground and then progressing to longer walks on pavement/gravel to help strengthen the tendons and ligaments. I could add walking over poles when I saw Ernie was beginning to gain strength to help him regain some of the muscle in his butt. At month two, Dr. Randy came to visit and see how he was doing. He cleared us for *gasp!* mounted walking for a couple weeks, and then, depending on how he felt, some short trot periods on soft ground only. I held off on the mounted stuff for another month, instead spending out rehab time walking in side reins and some ground driving to help rebuild Ernie's topline.

In addition to all that, I pulled the hind eggbar shoes I'd been told I HAD to have on this horse. He kept the shoes in the front due to his club foot (we tried pulling them once, and that was just bad news bears), but given what I knew about this horse and equine anatomy, I knew his hind legs would probably benefit from no shoes anyway. He's never been more sound since we pulled them almost 6 years ago.

Thirteen and a half months after it began, the rehab processed continued, but every day felt less and less like rehab and more like a chance to re-bond with my horse. I learned quickly how to read his strides, how to feel if he was short on the recovered side,, where he was tight, what was loose, what was not, etc. I picked up on queues I NEVER would have noticed before, and how to ignore ones I knew were normal. For instance, ever since the injury Ernie has moved shorted on the right hind than the left; it became a defense mechanism when he was recovering and has stuck. He has a much harder time with lateral work to the left than the right, where he really has to bring that right hind in. Oddly enough, his left lead canter is actually better than his right, despite the fact that he has to bear all his weight for a moment on that right leg. I've adjusted my observation skills, a must with me since I freak out about the smallest hitch and assume worst case scenario.

As for his job, Ernie returned to dressage and ring work almost a year and a half after the subsequent injury. I have the watch the depth of the footing in the arena, and I don't ride if it's wet or slick. We now make road hacks a part of our training program, although it's turned into more of a maintenance program. We got to a point this past spring where Ernie had made leaps and bounds in his abilities, but his age ultimately dictates what he can and cannot do. He's my Iron Horse, but he's still got limitations. So now I ride to keep him in shape and give him mind and body something to focus on, not so much to improve anything.

That's the injury for you. It isn't the only injury in Ernie's long life, but those are for another day. :)