Teddy fractures a bone

I had one of those mind-numbing jobs that seemed to take up all of my time. It also left me without the ability to ride much or even take a lesson. It paid so little that I took a second job and wound up working seven days a week. Despite this, I still managed to qualify for the state championships --  a first for me. I did this without having more than six lessons the whole year. In the end, I swore to myself that I would never take another job that interfered with riding. In the end, I was happy that the job was lost. I was looking forward to taking the time to ride. I was looking forward to lessons. I was making plans for the 2010 competition season. One week later, a swelling appeared on the inside of Teddy's left front leg. He was sound, so I continued to ride him. I called the vet. He diagnosed a fractured splint bone. Fortunately, I have insurance coverage for Ted. We discussed surgery to remove the bone. While this is the optimum treatment, laying Teddy off from work has proved difficult in the past because of his fitness level. So instead of surgery, I chose to use shock wave therapy to promote the re-fusing of the bone. With shock wave, I would still have the opportunity to keep Teddy physically active and thus maintain his mental health. We have one more shock wave session to go. I am walking and trotting Ted under saddle six days a week. Each session includes at least 20 minutes of trotting with another 25 minutes of walking. And when I say walk, I try to keep Teddy in a forward march. But as the temperatures have dipped into the low 30s and time goes by without any turnout, Teddy has turned a bit fractious. The vet put him on a long-term tranquilizer, so I don't get hurt and he doesn't hurt himself.  Hopefully, he will maintain a cool head until the vet gives him clearance to begin real work again.

Comments

[Allison]

I believe my horse might have something similar going on. I might have a vet coming this week to do x rays to find out for sure. Would you mind sending me an email to let me know if you are still happy with the shockwave treatment? If so, I will ask my vet about it. My horse is going CRAZY being on stall rest (one month now), and it's driving ME crazy watching him trapped in there and not even seeing any improvement on his leg yet! I've owned him for 5 years and he's used to being ridden daily and turned out daily. If shockwave treatment is something that would heal him faster, I am definitely interested.