hobbyhorse23
Well-Known Member
I just wanted to let everyone know that Kody's doing good! He's still floating on and off his hay a little which bugs me but he's absolutely devoted to vacuuming up every crumb of feed I put in his bucket and has started waiting by the pasture gate and nickering at me when I come down to the barn which he hasn't done since before he was gelded three years ago.
He finished his antibiotics yesterday and hasn't been on any kind of anti-inflammatory for about a week but his temp remains normal and he's dragging me down the street at a busy trot every time we go out. I finally put him back in long-lines yesterday for our walk and he was so excited he could hardly stand it. He trotted out for long stretches both uphill and down with no sign of soreness or difficulty and of course bucked and tried to canter once we were out on the main road and going where he wanted to go. Despite that his "Whoa, Stand" has gotten very good and he got a lot of praise for controlling himself when he was excited. When we got home I asked him to pick up his feet for cleaning and he actually anticipated and held his hind feet up for me before I got there like a normal horse.
Until now it's been all he could do to to simply shift his weight off the leg with my help and get it unlocked without accidentally kicking me; he's never been able to lift it himself without at least a brief lock so this is a huge step and tells me he's consciously figured out that he isn't going to lock. He looked so proud of himself I just had to hug him.
He's standing squarely now and taking more weight on his hind heels instead of only on his tiptoes and one of the legs has gone back to tracking straight, but the other one is still toeing out quite a bit. I'm hoping that will correct itself with a bit more time and some physical therapy like the other one did.
I'm fairly sure his teeth need some work and the dentist is coming out tomorrow to float him, clean his sheathe and remove the surgical sutures so after that we'll see if he goes back on his hay consistantly and stops champing the bit quite so much.
Meanwhile....heee's BAAAAAAAACCCKKK!!!
Despite missing Oregon Gold and a lot of training time at a critical part of the season I have no regrets about doing this surgery and only wish I had done it sooner. His recovery is going much quicker than the previous splitting procedure and he's clearly much happier.
Leia
He's standing squarely now and taking more weight on his hind heels instead of only on his tiptoes and one of the legs has gone back to tracking straight, but the other one is still toeing out quite a bit. I'm hoping that will correct itself with a bit more time and some physical therapy like the other one did.
I'm fairly sure his teeth need some work and the dentist is coming out tomorrow to float him, clean his sheathe and remove the surgical sutures so after that we'll see if he goes back on his hay consistantly and stops champing the bit quite so much.
Meanwhile....heee's BAAAAAAAACCCKKK!!!
Leia
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OH!
