The doctor calls...

Today at work we had a very, very experienced and knowledgeable vet come to inject the hocks of one of our yearling fillies. She had gotten OCD's removed from both hocks and was getting injected post operation. My boss had previously mentioned that I needed to talk to this particular vet as he might have some ideas. I kept trying to get his number with little or no effect on my boss. :) Typical! However, the vet stopped by today so I helped out!

I asked him about Mr. Dig My Size after he was done injecting our filly. He had a few good ideas that I'll list quickly:

1. Make sure the toe on his front hooves stay short. He said to square them off if possible and keep them short to prevent low heels.
2. Make sure he stays a good weight, especially not too fat!
3. Keep diligent about footing he gets worked in.
4. Make sure he stays SOUND behind, especially in the right hind (hock especially) so he can keep weight off his front feet as much as possible.
5. If all else fails, Digby is a good candidate for a long term chemical nerve block. Basically, Digby would be injected with a chemical in his hoof that would last around 6 months. It is similar to being de-nerved with less complications. Digby would probably do well with this because he trotted off SO sound when we blocked his hoof originally to take x-rays back in June 2011. I personally think of it like giving a horse Ace as a sedative to take the edge off vs a month long sedative. Similar effects, just different time frames.

My vet had mentioned the majority of these things to me originally so I was not shocked by any of this. She did not mention a long term nerve block though. Due to this and his current stellar soundness....

The hony is coming back into work. Officially. Whoo!

We will do this again!!! <3

I'm going on vacation (I know, I know... lazy! Haha!) until Tuesday so I won't be jumping right into this obviously. I'll probably do a week or two of straight hand work before trying to start riding. Ok ok, I MAY just tack him up and walk around. :)

If he goes lame, I'll try a chemical nerve block... barring I don't find a lot of horrible, horrific reactions to it via Google. Hopefully we don't have to try this but it's good to have in the tool box, just in case. :)

2012 goals.

2012 goals

1. Get and keep Digby SOUND - He's currently sound. We just need to keep him there. I will have the vet out soon to do a yearly check up on him and hopefully discuss some options of keeping him sound.
2. Learn better ground manners - This will come into effect once I start foal watching at the middle/end of this month and have days off during the week. I want him to be more respective. And, for gods sake Digby, stand STILL on the cross ties. This has been worked on every single time I put him on cross ties but he still does it. He might always do it.
3. Keep a healthy weight - He tends to lose weight in the winter and gain weight easily every other season. I'm trying to keep him at a slim 5 on the BCS system this year to put the least amount of stress on his joints.
4. Be more confident jumping - This one is for me. I'm going to start riding again when I go to foal watch schedule and want to start working on my position over fences more seriously. I tend to lose my leg over the fence more than I'd like to admit and it makes me less confident. It's not that I'm scared to jump, I just lack a good lower leg and sometimes I get a little nervous because of that.
5. RIDE DIGBY - Enough said!

If all goes well, Digby will be brought back into work some time in May. Fingers crossed, toes crossed, prayers, jingles, whatever else that he stays sound. Ideally, I'd love for him to stay sound (even if it requires maintenance such as Adequan, bute, Isox, etc) and be able to do a little lower level dressage. Maybe we could find a trail riding buddy and tackle some trails to get back into shape? Digby definitely can't do that alone. He needs a confident, not spooky friend to hold his hoof the entire time. Possibly due to the fact that he associates trails with cross country... but I'd prefer the calmer, walking, trotting, a little cantering type trails.

Digby. 7/3/10. One of my favorites. :)

What are your horsey goals for 2012? What about your non horsey ones? I'd love to hear them!