Two weeks in and Arwen is still not 100%. Last week we had Celebrity Vet out (I call him that because he has worked with the US Olympic team and spends most of his time flying around the world checking people's horses) and he diagnosed her problem as her coffins again. When we lunged her on hard ground, she was definitely off-doing a little bit of a head bob, and shorter stride going both directions. He blocked one of her front feet, and there was some improvement which is what caused him to come to that conclusion. Last time I had her coffins done, it was a pretty dramatic improvement, so I went ahead and did them. She definitely had inflammation in that area (before he puts the steroids in, he'll stick the needle in and then press on the area and a bunch of bloody liquid comes squirting out-not normal) so it was definitely getting close to the time to get them done (last time done was about 7 months ago)
However...I think I said before her "offness" felt a lot different from the last time she needed her coffins done. It felt higher up, like her shoulder area or something. But since she was relatively new to me at this time last year, it is possible that before she was *really* sore from the inflammation, she had felt like this as well and it just got progressively worse. Because last time, by the time we did her coffins she was head bobbing lame on hard ground. This time it was very, very mild but clear to both the vet and my eye that she was sore.
So after getting two days of just turnout from the injections, I took her for a very light hack on Sunday expecting everything to feel right as rain. At the walk, everything was fine. As soon as we picked up the trot though, I could feel that little bit of a lurch in her shoulder again. I kept her going though, and after about half a lap, she had worked out of it. We did a little bit of canter too, and then went back to the trot and she felt great. I chalked it up to maybe she was expecting some pain and bracing for it, then realized it was gone and relaxed.
However...trainer hacked her today and said she felt it too. Again, worked out of it. But, when she went to put her in the crossties she pushed on her chest to get her to back up (Arwen refuses to turn around, so we just back her into them) and apparently flew backwards. Trainer started feeling around on her chest area, and felt a definite swelling on her left side. Now this could be a number of things, some not so bad, some pretty serious. I hadn't noticed this swelling at all over the past week, and trainer asked me if she was particularly bad when I groomed her chest, but I was like well, she's always kind of annoyed when I groom her. Didn't notice any reactions out of the ordinary. She also hasn't been off her feed or acting lethargic. Has pretty much been her normal, bright eyed self. Also, she doesn't go crazy in turnout so I'm doubting that she pulled something out there.
Basically, I'm kind of at a loss. At least we have ruled out coffins so I know she's not in pain in that area. Now, we just are going to wait and see if this chest thing gets better on its own, or worsens. I'm going to ride her lightly this week to keep her moving, and trainer gave her some anti inflammatory stuff to see if that helps. We're hoping maybe its a bite, or she ran into something. But I'm thinking its probably something a little more serious if its been affecting her for a little while now. If nothing improves, will definitely be having the vet out again. Sigh. I sure do wish she could talk to me sometimes...
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