One Decision Made

I have made a decision about Walker.

I am not going to be riding him or working him again for the foreseeable future, which I suspect may be forever but will for sure be at least 3 months or possibly a year (the reason for that discrepancy will be described in later posts).

He is not comfortable.  He is not improving.

I talked it over with both the farrier and the vet, and they agree with my decision.

Furthermore, the vet gave me a smidgen of hope today that I could still improve on his lameness so I'm going to work towards that goal.

The vet told me that Walker has non-septic pedal osteitis (which, for those of you who are curious, is a symptom of other issues, not a syndrome in and of itself), and while the demineralization of the bone is pretty bad, the coffin bone actually possesses the ability to fill itself back in again to a certain degree (however slight that may be).

So that means there is still a chance that I can improve on some of the lesser demineralization that has occurred in the bone, and armed with that knowledge (however misunderstood it may turn out to be), I intend do whatever I can to make that happen and to simply make him comfortable.

And I think the best chance of that is 0 work and 5 star conditions.

He got his feet done today and got his new pads put on.  I'll be curious to see if they will make any improvement in his comfort level, but I am hopeful.  He's usually pretty sore in his stall and hobbles like an old man to the door, but even though he just had his feet done today, he was much perkier when I came out to give him lovin' and an apple.

I'm also looking into a couple more changes for him which, while I'm hoping they will be good for his feet as well, will at least be good for his mental health.  I believe that just like humans, happiness is a healer in its own way.

So stay tuned because  more is on its way!