You guys have me in tears now for an entirely different reason. Do you know how blessed I feel to have so many friends out there pulling for us and caring about Kody and I?? *sniff*
Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. I've gotten a lot of sympathetic emails from people with some super horses who have also had to deal with this and it's nice to know I'm not alone and that there is hope.
I've called some local vets about the surgery and discussed it with the surgeon who did Kody's splitting. She says (get this
)
90 days in a stall. Conservative much?? Also another $1,000 as she wants to lay him down in the hospital to make sure she gets the right tendon. I trust her skill but will be checking with other vets recommended to me by a local breeder on this forum (thanks, you know who you are!
) to find a somewhat cheaper option. There is no way I'm stalling him for even a third of that time- he'd come out with no muscle tone at all and I thought the most important part of stabilizing the joint was for the other tendons to strengthen enough to take the strain that the cut one had!
I do intended to do this surgery no matter what, the only question now is when. After I posted yesterday I went out and watched him run around before the vet came for vaccinations and was absolutely convinced that it had to be now. My mom hadn't seen the trotting problem I was talking about until then and was horrified at how bad it was. She was in total agreement that we had to do something. I called every local vet I could find and asked them to call me back with estimates. Then I went out to clean the paddocks and let Kody loose to run around.
And it was Kody himself who changed my mind about when. He was locking up terribly all the time but after awhile he started to work out of it and as he did he began to trot around. Then to gallop. Then to start having so much fun that he'd catch my eye from across the pasture, turn and charge right at me at a screaming run then slide to a halt and rear spectacularly as if to taunt me and beg me to play. (Yes, we had a discussion about manners which he accepted with good grace.) He'd play with me and the wheelbarrow for awhile, try to steal the pitchfork fifteen times or so, then turn around and spot Spyder or Mom and off he'd go at that galloping charge to harass the next person. It occurred to me that I really haven't been working him nearly as much as I thought I had for the last few weeks and perhaps that's a large part of the problem. There's no question that he needs this surgery but if I do it now he'll spend the better part of spring recovering just when he's finally getting fit and is so full of the joy of life. I looked in his eyes and saw a whole lot of "Let's go Mom!" and not one bit of self-pity or interest in becoming an invalid again even temporarily at this time of year.
You've all convinced me that he'd be back to regular work pretty quickly and that's great but normal round-penning, light driving and some jumping is not enough for what we do. He'd still miss most of the CDE season and right now he's rarin' to go and completely avid about his work. He's got as much say in this as I do and if he's going to be that way about it then I guess I'll just have to take the wild ride along with him.
That little horse will keep me running, that's for sure!
So for now while I continue to talk to vets and explore surgical options (who, when, how much, etc.) we're redoing some fence lines and exploring another option with the help of a generous local forum member. Details will follow if it all works out but Kody will be thrilled and I'll have some help keeping him in shape and exercised. Hopefully between that and Daylight Saving Time I'll be able to keep him fit enough to beat the problem. Keep your fingers crossed for us! I'll keep you posted.
Leia
