Those of you who follow me on Instagram probably saw the picture I posted yesterday of Tim at Rood and Riddle. I was luckily able to get a last minute appointment with my favorite vet and hauled Timmers to Lexington yesterday afternoon, and thank goodness I did!
The news was not good. He flexed well and was actually fairly sound on concrete, but the vet got a strong positive reaction when he hoof-tested his left heel. Apparently the various angles of his left leg are wonky, leading to much less heel on that foot and most likely causing the ligament issue. Then we went inside to really find out what was going on with the ligament. Dr. N stuck the ultrasound probe on his leg, pointed out all of the structures to me, and then casually stated that Tim has torn all the way through his left check ligament. He was able to do a side-by-side comparison of the left and right legs, which revealed that the LF check is at least twice the size of the right and that roughly 60% of the ligament is damaged. Not only does he have this going on, but I also learned that he has seedy toe and white line disease. YAY ME.
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Picture on right: normal check ligament, outlined in yellow
Picture on left: Green outline- Tim's left check. At least twice the size of the normal one. Yellow outline- the torn area
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So, what does all of this mean..? Well, for starters, he has to be on stall rest for three weeks. In three weeks, if all goes well, he has a checkup with Dr. N and will have another ultrasound. If he seems to be healing nicely, I will then be allowed to get on him and walk for three weeks. At the 6-8 week mark, we'll have another checkup and ultrasound. Provided that he has healed by then, I'll be cleared to WTC and eventually go back to our normal routine.
During the three weeks of stall rest, he has to be iced twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon, with the hope of minimizing the development of scar tissue. The injured leg also needs to be wrapped after each icing session; dry wrap in the morning and butecort sweat overnight. To add to that, he also needs to have three sessions of Clean Trax, which is a lengthy process that I have personally never gone through before. We pulled his shoes while at R&R yesterday in the hopes that going barefoot, combined with the Clean Trax, will really speed up the hoof healing process and get rid of the white line/seedy toe issue. He also needs to get out of his stall and hand-graze as often as possible... there really aren't enough hours in the day.
In the meantime, I'll be begging my friends to let me ride their ponies and I probably won't update my blog much (not like I have a stellar track record to begin with). I'll post as often as I have something interesting to say, but Tim and I are mostly likely going to go a little (or a lot) stir crazy in the next couple of weeks, so I'll try to spare you all from the whining and the pity party!
