Frank is lame – Boo hoo! Vet came today to X ray his splint -there’s  no apparent lameness but I just thought it might be good to get it looked at as its massive and it would be good to rule out any ligament involvement.   Frank and I went out for a good long hack yesterday and he was amazing – really on his toes and super fit – horse powering up steep hills from marsh road to Welshmoor taking a very cheeky strong hold galloping flat out on the narrow grass verge – pulling up, of his own accord, within centimetres of the grassy bit running out.  In preparation for team chasing at the weekend I’ve been trying different bits for better brakes…however, the curb strap on the New Schule training bit has not made a jot of difference to the braking system.  Last week we had show-jumping training with Jonathan Pett and arena event training with Louise Harwood  – Frank has been working hard and going good.   On the day of the vet visit Frank had been in all day, stuffing his face with hay, waiting for the vet and I’d held off going out for a ride because it was raining so hard. After inspecting the splint in the stable  I was asked to trot him up, so pulling him away from his haynet I dragged him out of the stable and immediately trotted him up the yard so that the vet could see him in action.  Not surprisingly, he looked a bit unlevel behind. Flexion tests exacerbated the problem. Lunging in the school did not improve matters. Lunging him on a 10 metre circle on the hard concrete of the yard was painful to watch  – I don’t think he could have looked worse if he had been asked to trot barefoot on a stony beach. There’s me psyching myself up for this team chasing thing in the Cotswolds – thinking Frank needs less oats in the bucket and better brakes – then it’s like Oh wait a sec… he’s actually as lame as a cat – how on earth… WTF? This is not the oingy boingy horse I jumped last week or rode yesterday…. I was totally nonplussed.  Having finally decided to give this Team Chasing  thing my best shot I now might have to shoot my horse (slight exaggeration there for comic effect but really, this is serious).

But whoa, stop and think a bit here.  First of all, Frank is never taken out of the stable and trotted up without any kind of warm-up. For all I know he would show up lame everytime he was brought out of the stable and suddenly asked to do this.  Whether hacking out or schooling the routine always begins with walk – quite a bit of walk if we are on the road (as opposed to going straight out onto the Bryn). Once he has warmed up in walk we progress to trotting and transitions (walk, trot, halt and so on).  If schooling then this is followed by canter on both reins. As Frank warms up everything becomes more fluid and supple. Frank’s finely tuned internal sat nav tells him exactly when to move up a gear for the homeward stretch and this is the time to practice our ‘medium’ work.  On the day of the vet visit Frank had been stuck in all day and not had chance to stretch his legs or roll so trotting him up straight off the bat was bound to catch him at his worst. You should see me first thing in a morning – I can hardly move .  Until I’ve had a cup of tea and a pain killer  you would never think I was even capable of even sitting on a horse!

In a state of disbelief I agreed for him to have an appointment at the lameness clinic the following day – made all the more bizarre by the fact that his field buddy Olly was booked in for exactly the same clinic, to investigate possible stifle lameness and there was a possibility they could travel together. However, after the vet had left I sat down and tried to reconcile todays diagnosis with recent experience and they just did not add up. I thought then back to Sunday – when Frank had slipped in the lorry on the way to BRC dressage competition in Carmarthen.  Although there was an open wound to his coronet I wondered if maybe he also suffered a strain. I thought I may have to withdraw but after I’d cleaned up the wound and sprayed it with Vetrocin  it looked OK.  Although he’d felt OK in the tiny warm up area I pulled out of the test about halfway through as he didn’t feel quite right. Added to this, two weeks ago, Frank had clattered over a jump at Pembrey (on his way to winning the 90cm) and injured his fetlock. The wound wasn’t visible, there was no swelling or lameness, or obvious bleeding but quite a large scab was evident some days later when I was checking his legs for mud fever. Perhaps this was contributing to the lameness evident today – these possibilities were discussed with the vet.

Later, on the evening of the visit, I wrote about events of the day and reflected on how Frank had really been going in those lessons he’d had last week. The vet had said that the lameness was only slight, in a horse used only for hacking it wouldn’t be a problem and would most likely go unnoticed.  Last weeks lessons with Jonathan Pett and Louise Harwood had been quite tough and both included lots of flatwork mostly concerned with achieving a more active canter and worked on shortening and lengthening strides. Whilst no one questioned Frank’s soundness the difficulties Frank experienced in canter could possibly be due to pain or stiffness in his legs or back.  Once we progressed to the jumping part of the lesson the focus was less on getting him to work from behind and more concerned with things like getting him down a bank or over a water tray. The exercise JP asked us to do was more difficult than it should have been.  Asking a horse to put in six strides between two fences where five would be more natural should not be that difficult – and Frank did achieve it a couple of times but clearly he found this uncomfortable as evidenced by a couple of extraordinary leaps from a standstill which resulted in me punching myself in the face so hard I saw stars whilst at the same time clicking my heels behind me  – I think I impressed JP with my new acrobatic jumping style. Considering these schooling difficulties put the vets observations in a different light – even giving Frank the benefit of the doubt there was most likely some issues with balance and lameness here – manifest not in obvious lameness but in difficulty getting Frank to really work from behind and engage. Even warmed up Frank does not perform as he should….I think there is definitely something going on as his canter lacks impulsion, he’s not altogether ‘through’ and up into the bridle and finds shortening his stride very difficult indeed – which all suggests he’s not 100% sound. I think there’s a lot of walking wounded out there in terms of horses at all levels of work and the vet confirmed this by saying that she sees a lot of horses out competing that are more lame than Frank.

So, after giving it some thought I decided that I would not take him to the clinic for lameness testing. I’d ease off  exercise, give him a few days rest and with some regret ( and I have to admit a tiny bit of relief) cancel our team chasing debut on Sunday . I decided to bring him back into light work after a couple of weeks rest and take things from there. This will give him chance to recover from falling down in the lorry – so at least that can be ruled out.

Update: Today, Franks fetlock (injured at Pembrey)  is swollen, hot and painful.  I have washed it with hibiscrub, cold-hosed it and applied a poultice. Hmmmm… I think I may need to call a vet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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