I haven’t posted in a while since I have not been doing as much shibori stitching lately. I’ve been dealing with my horse, Dan the Man, and trying to figure out what his injury is and how to treat it.
Dan has been slightly “off” since late October/early November. First I scheduled a chiropractic treatment (which has worked tremendously in the past), but this time it wasn’t helpful. So we had a blood test for Lyme disease, followed by two blood tests for Cushing’s disease. Then a round of three injections of a anti-inflammatory drug. None of these helped.
So we finally had a physical exam and flexion tests on his right hind leg. Bingo!
Next step, locating the exact part of the right leg, was the problem. This is done by using a local anesthesia to block an area of the leg and then doing flexion tests and trotting to see if the numbing relieved the pain. Dan had several blocks over a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, none of the blocks were effective in localizing an area to treat.
Lastly, was the ultrasound – and there was the culprit – a slight injury to the suspensory ligament. So he is on stall rest with 15 minutes of walking in the morning and the late afternoon. He is getting cold laser therapy three times a week, for six weeks. Then we’ll have another ultrasound and see what’s happened.
Today Dan and I took a stroll through the woods. Suddenly he stopped and turned his head and shoulders over my head. What had caught his attention? A beautiful fox – who showed no fear of us – we stood and watched him for over five minutes before moving on down the path. I looked over my shoulder as we left, and he was stretching into downward dog position, and then settled down to lie on top of the log.