It has arrived! My Hawk Trailer.

It's here!!!! It's here!!!! My  beautiful custom 2 horse has finally arrived :)

It came yesterday...my mom was there for delivery. It is beautiful and I can't wait to jump around in it (because I own it I can do that, you know).

We got a lot of custom options and I am just so happy with it!!!!! Let's hope my horses get in it.

Extra tall, long, and wide, diamond plates, reflector tape

black padding, adjustable butt and breast bars, loading light

extra tail lights, extra windows, full doors option with short ramp, recessed light switches

barred divider, bulkhead window, oscillating fan

full escape doors with drop down window on each side, tack room (with step) with carpeted wall and 3 saddle racks

I highly recommend Risa at Happy Trails Trailering! We ordered it from Tennessee from Risa in South Carolina, and it was made in Wisconsin and shipped straight to us :)

Update: Bad news...

I took Romeo back to the vet on Friday because after recent blocks and fetlock injections, and prior to that hock injections, he is still not right. Actually, he has gotten more lame.

Video from Thursday:
http://youtu.be/c-1ai_Z6DsM

We did a series of blocks on the left hind, and unfortunately, and it was sound after the high suspensory block. Then trotting he was way lame on the right hind after he felt better on the LH. Awesome.

So...we ultra-sounded and got some bad results. The left hind suspensory was scarred and had tiny tears about 3-4 inches down from the top of the suspensory in the body. Fortunately, he had no lesions. So he has proximal suspensory desmitis. He also has a suspensory strain in the right hind from trying to compensate from the left. Currently there is no heat or external swelling since it appears to be a chronic injury from ~5 months ago.

It appears he had some short term improvement after hock and fetlock injections because of the cortisone which is why he seemed better, and then got worse.

"Whatcha doin' back there?"

Since he has no lesions, he is not a candidate for Platelet Rich Plasma or Stem Cell Therapy. We are also not really a candidate for surgery, although his LH suspensory was described as "bulging." We are starting with 30 days of stall rest with two 5 min hand walks per day. I have a feeling he is going to need some reserpine after a few days.

The vets didn't recommend wrapping, NSAIDs, or ice therapy...

However I would like rehab to be as productive as possible and am looking into renting a Game Ready System and using his Back on Track no-bow wraps I had bought before we knew what was going on. I will discuss this with the vets, but I don't think it will hurt.

I am really, really bummed. However, I was actually rather relieved because we FINALLY figured out what was wrong. I don't have to worry about riding him and damaging him anymore. Thank goodness.

I am currently in Park City, Utah skiing. I didn't get home from the vet school (had to drive back to parent's house) until 9 pm Friday and we left Saturday morning. I am happy to be here...but I feel so bad for my little guy. We are willing to do whatever is necessary to get him to feel better. If you watch the video I posted above, you can see how unhappy he was to the left and his general lack to want to push. I feel bad :(

Deer Valley Ski Resort at Silver Lake

It's not that I don't want to blog...

It's that I don't have anything to talk about!

Romeo still isn't quite right. I'm starting to wonder if it is something higher up, but nothing in upper limb or sacral area palpated sore. He still sucks back changing directions to the left, and is missing his right to left lead change in the back end. We even got a neuro exam done to rule out EPM, but it appears he is negative. My mother reminded me yesterday about his jumping into the mare's paddock several times (~4'), and I'm wondering if maybe there is some inflammation somewhere that we just haven't been able to detect.

I want to say that we haven't jumped 10 fences since October of 2011, which is so disheartening, as he loves to jump. It's his favorite part of any ride.

From a couple weeks ago (he has good and bad days- a little stiff that day but wanted to play a bit):

Johnny turned 13 on Feb 28th, but since I was at school, I couldn't tell him Happy Birthday until I went home this weekend. He has been shedding out like crazy for the past couple weeks, but of course he is still hairy and really needs to be clipped before April for the show season.

Fuzzy wuzzy was a horse..

I am ever so grateful to the Smartpak gut health seminar for introducing me to the Freedom Feeder. Not only has it helped me SO much with Johnny, but I am so happy to be able to educate others about small hole hay nets, and how beneficial and easy they can be. I know I say that almost every post, but every time I come out to the barn and see Johnny snacking away on his net, I am so thankful for the health he is in. This is the first winter where he has stayed healthy over the entirety of the season. I am beyond blessed, and truly think FFs have a whole lot to do with his current health. We struggled for so many years trying to keep him alive and happy, and now I am just beside myself. We changed a lot of other things about his life as well, but I think constant and small amounts of forage are vital to a happy and healthy gut, especially his.

Still looking for answers with Romeo, but hopefully with enough help we will figure out what is wrong.