R&R

Not rest and relaxation, but rather Rood and Riddle, one of the best equine hospitals in the world. I feel extremely fortunate to live within a short distance of their offices, in case we ever have some sort of emergency (god forbid) or just want access to some of the best doctors in the field! I had dealt with some of their employees before Friday, but Friday was my first trip to the actual offices, not far from the Kentucky Horse Park. We met with Dr. Chris Newton, one of the doctors onsite for Rolex, which was the coolest thing ever!! He's so knowledgable and cool to talk to, plus he had some really great ideas for getting Limerick stronger so that his back won't get as sore as it has been.

From the moment we arrived on the property, I was in awe. Vets were running around every which way and emergencies were constantly being radioed over the walkie talkie and loud speaker systems. The whole thing made me feel very legit and lucky, as well as made me realize that I might actually consider going into equine vet as opposed to small animal. Dr. Newton basically performed an extended PPE, opting to take X-rays of his hocks and RF fetlock. They were mostly clean, with only a few minor arthritic changes. He was a little bit concerned that Lim seems to be putting a lot of stress on his RF, so it's really important for me to get him stronger, back on his butt, and putting less strain on his front legs. He recommended an exercise like this blue one, but imagine 6 poles instead of 3. He wants me to lunge him through this once a week with side-reins, gradually raising the 4 middle poles until they are a decent height off the ground. The idea is to get him to really step under and use his back, therefore strengthening it, especially in the areas it gets most sore.

Then we went inside for the rest of the exam, and here's a brief run through of what he did: 

1. Epidural
2. Adequan injection 
3. Small adjustments to his neck
4. Adjusted his jaw, apparently has TMJ and was more sore on right side

The whole experience was very neat to watch, and I actually got to give the adequan, which was a first for me! We left with extra Adequan, a new muscle relaxant (doesn't affect his brain at all), and a plan to strengthen his back and change his smartpak :) We were also directed to do dressage for days, which now means that I'm hard at work convincing my parents to let me have a fitting for a dressage saddle. I'm already online shopping for used County saddles, so we'll see where this goes!!

Poor baby :( SO sore and tight 

Happy drugs

Proper hand placement for IM injections

Epidural