Tanta’s X-Rays!

The vet came out yesterday to X-Ray Tanta. this was our first time meeting this vet, but I really liked her! (in this post I will call her Dr. M and our regular vet Dr. C… otherwise this will get confusing real quick! lol) She seemed very thorough and informative. we first explained what had been going on for Tanta, and then we trotted her on the driveway. I got Maren to trot her so I could watch her go as well, and she actually looked a lot better than the last time I trotted her, about a week ago. we then trotted her on the lunge line both directions and she still looked pretty good! not 100% sound, (same on the driveway) but a lot better. this was very encouraging! I haven’t really been trotting her, as Dr. C had advised against that, because we were not sure what was bothering her.

Dr. M said she would normally consider a nerve block, but Tanta wasn’t lame enough to necessarily tell anything from that! which I was honestly pretty happy about.  we moved onto the X-Rays. we did quite a few views of the right front… and they were pretty clear!! the sesamoids look FINE!!!!! *phew* and the lump looked like… nothing on the X-Ray, so it is not in fact “a bony Lump”. The only thing that showed on the X-Ray was a little bit of arthritic changes in her coffin joint, but that is nothing unusual for a horse Tanta’s age and it wasn’t anything extreme. Dr. M doubted that was the cause. so what was the cause of the lameness? we are not 100% sure. Dr. M’s guess was maybe soft tissue injury, and the lump is scar tissue, or maybe Tanta bonked herself and because she does have some arthritic changes, bonking herself could potentially make her go a bit lame…

we also had Dr. M X-Ray the lump on Tanta’s nose. and she thought it looked good!! although she did say that face radiographs are the hardest to read, and she would show it to someone else in her clinic to be sure! it sure did look confusing!

sleepy Tanta ❤

so the plan is this

week 1: stall rest but she can have access to 1/2 of a run out. (need to go put a board in the middle tomorrow!! or more accurately; have to get dad to do that tomorrow!) she can also hand walk for 5 mins a day.

week 2 : same as above, but hand walks can now be 10 mins instead of 5.

week 3: Tanta can have a stall and a whole run out! hand walks can be 15 mins.

week 4: Same as above, but hand walks can now be 20 mins

week 5: if all is going well and Tanta is *cross fingers* sound, I can start riding her on her walks. they can be 20 mins (ish) still.

week 6: same as above but walks can increase to 25 mins… this is exciting stuff!

weeks 7-10 as shown in the chart below. I get to add trot and canter in if she is all good still!!

so yeah! that’s the plan… we will unfortunately miss all the schooling shows I was planning… I’m feeling pretty bummed about that. but I am so relived that Tanta should be feeling better soon! annnnddd we should ready to go for the first event in May! so that’s a plus.

I took Rasty on a bareback trail ride today… he was feeling fresh! there were multiple times on our ride I wished I’d had a saddle on! in the driveway, he actually tried to play buck.  he only actually put his head between his knees and gave a small hop, but if I hadn’t pulled his head up… Rasty never bucks! lol. then I trotted him and Maren watched. I like to see how he’s doing lameness wise when I take him out, although he is always pretty much the same… he felt pretty dang fantastic! not completely sound or anything… but better than he’s felt in a long time. he was also sooo hyper on the trail! he was spooking at everything that he normally does not bat an eye at. last time Dr. C was here, she suggested putting Rasty on the same thyroid medicine as Tanta and Lilliput are on, to help control his weight. I’m wondering if that is making him fresh. but he certainly felt good! so when we got back home I hopped off and asked Maren to trot him so I could watch him go. she did, and he looked quite terrible. not worse than normal, but definitely not how I thought he felt when I was riding him! I do find it hard to compare how lame a horse is riding vs. watching from the ground… but this was fairly extreme difference to how he felt. so I hopped back on and trotted him for Maren to see. then I hopped back off and trotted his with me leading. strangely enough, he is way sounder when I am on him… that’s a little weird isn’t it?? I have never heard of a horse being sounder under saddle than when in hand… huh! I will have to research that! 🙂

A visit from the vet…

Just over a week ago Tanta and I had a jumping lesson. it was great fun and Tanta felt very good!  we were focusing on staying reeeaallly straight on the approach and landing of some little tiny jumps… which was actually quite tough for us. lol. (My coach also had me work on keeping my hip angle more closed… riding only dressage for the last year hasn’t helped!) after we finished jumping I went to do some stretchy trot with Tanta before ending our ride, but she was off on her right front. me and my coach both looked her leg over and neither of us could see or feel any lumps/bumps/heat/swelling on her leg. so it was decided upon that I would ice her leg and wrap her that night. I was *hoping* that she was just brewing an abscess. buuuuut when I went out and unwrapped her the next morning… bony lump right on the inside of her fetlock!! nooooooo…

I trotted her that morning, and she was still off on it, although maybe a smidge less so. and me feeling the lump did not seem to bother her at all. I tried to get a picture of it, but her leg is so fluffy the lump didn’t show up… but the lump is roughly the size of a quarter.

I then showed the lump to my coach, as I normally do when one of my horses develops some sort of strange lump and I dont know what’s going on… she thought the lump was on Tanta’s sesamoid bone. “lump on horses sesamoid bone” is not something you want to google. it’s a very good way to freak yourself out…😟

my coach suggested putting her on stall rest with the run out (so not full stall rest), ice her at least once a day and then wrap her front legs at night. at least until our vet could come and look at her. I’ve been doing this, but the lump and lameness are still there. Today our vet came to look at her, and confirmed that the lump is on her sesamoid bone and recommended X-rays… unfortunately our vet does not have an X-ray machine so we will need to get another vet up soon.

Old (but cute❤️) pic of Tanta

Tanta was also due to get her teeth floated. she has a lump on the side of her face due to a tooth infection that she got awhile ago, while she was in foal with Raven. at the time it could not be removed because it would have (obviously) required sedation, and that couldn’t happed while she was pregnant. so now it could be removed, but the last X-ray she had looked perfect, and the lump has grown way smaller! so removing it may not be necessary anymore… it looks a bit funny, but it really does not bother her. so when we X-ray her leg we will also x-ray her mouth to see what’s going on with that. if she does not need the operation that would be nice. apparently it is quite a procedure to remove a horse tooth…

Tanta with her newborn little Raven awhile ago🥰🦄

sooooo. cross fingers my Tanta is sound and feeling better soon! and while our vet was here she checked up on Rasty, who is on a diet… she was pleased that he had lost weight, YAY!! but of course he needs to lose more weight still… and he is DESTROYING our fence…

I know… bad pic. Ignore the ollie nose.

I assume its because he is bored, but I am also concerned because we used to have a OTTB boarded at our place who started chewing wood because he had ulcers…

Also, on a completely different note… I’ve been doing a little bridle shopping/research. I would like to buy a new bridle for Tanta to jump in… she has a dressage bridle from Solo Equine, which me and Tanta both really like. but for jumping, I would like something a little less… bulky. (of course I bought the solo bridle with the widest noseband🥰) I just cant find anything that I love… it needs to be black to match my saddle… plus, I’m really picky. like, basically I want a buttery soft unicorn bridle! but that fits into my small budget! I am considering a Micklem, as that’s what I always used on Rasty. he really liked his, and I was pleased with the quality… but, that being said, I have used a Micklem on Tanta before, and she really didn’t notice a difference. sooooo…  I am in love with the Butet bridles. but, um, those do NOT fit in the budget. maybe I can find one used?

If anyone has a favorite jumping bridle, I’d love to hear!