Oops. Sorry, old sports

Hello again. Yes, yes, I know. You must be thinking, what's my excuse this time?

Well, old sports, did you know that the humans are worried about this thing called a pandemic? And not the equine variety, either (although, if you have an equine-addicted human they are ALWAYS worried about the equine variety). My Spode has been talking about this for a year now (even I'm over this) and apparently it impacts her every day life. She tells me that this has meant she has been at home for extended periods of time. 

On the plus side, it's very fun to try and pull Spode's mask off of her face. 

I thought this would mean I would see MORE of Spode, since usually her excuse is that she is too busy teaching to relinquish her laptop to my hooves. But no! Turns out that when she is forced to stay at home she actually uses her laptop more than before! Utter nonsense (coincidentally, that's also what Spode says about the state of education whenever there is a big change announced). 

I swear to god, if I need to hear her rant one more time about this Lecce guy...

And before you say I'm not being supportive of Spode, just look what I agreed to do...

So, the laptop hasn't been left at the barn for me for quite a while. And last time I logged on I was still waiting to come to Canada (really, it's an embarrassment. Sorry, old sports). Well once I arrived home Spode was trying to get a job and so she wouldn't give me the laptop then, either. And then she said she had to take a course for "special education" (not a course for the education for special horses-what gives?!). This course took a few months so no laptop privileges for this horse. Apparently she is doing another teacher course this year, too, so maybe even less laptop time for these hooves. 

Still has time to make me into a fat horse cartoon though, doesn't she? This is the type of thing she's really using the laptop for. 

You get the picture. So many excuses, so little time. For a draft horse, I do not draft nearly enough. 

So what have I been up to?

Well, the usual: medical issues are my forte, old sports. Let's see... when I arrived back in Canada I was healthy for almost two whole months. Not bad! I still needed to see my favourite vet, of course, but only to catch up on my Canadian vaccines that I hadn't been getting over in the UK. I tell you, those horses in England are lucky. I got one vaccine a year over there: flu. That's it. Every other year they threw in some tetanus, too. Back here? So. Many. Shots. And because of my sensitive constitution I need to get each of those shots individually. It's a good thing I love my vet so much and she's lucky I don't bear a grudge to all those sticks. 

Anyway, after I got caught up on my vaccinations, I overheard Spode saying she would see the vet again next time it was time to vaccinate. Hahahaha! Old sports, has she learned nothing in the almost eight years we have been together? 6 months or more is way too long for me to go between vet visits. I quickly explained to her just a few weeks after this that she needed to kindly call the vet back for a rather....um... "sensitive" issue. 

Maybe she misses me too. My face is a magnet.

I apologize for the lack of dignity I will now share, old sports, but there's no avoiding it. In December 2019, I came down with a case of the itch. Where? Well, in a spot where one does not want to have an itch... It's all very embarrassing. What's even more embarrassing is not having hands to scratch. What's a horse to do when they have itchy parts? The only option is kicking, old sports. And let me tell you--it's terribly unpleasant to have to kick yourself in the sheath. What's worse is that the other horses tease me about it when they see that my legs are covered in sheath gunk. It's a sure sign that I've been itchy again. 

The taunting. The shame. But, on the plus side, my itchy problem has given me ample opportunity to see my favourite vet. There's not much she hasn't tried to relieve my discomfort. When we all ran out of ideas, we decided to consult a specialist, and we tried all his ideas too (I'll spare you the details and won't share the countless photos Spode had to share with the doctors. No one wants their private parts on the internet. Too late for me, unfortunately, but at least I can stop them from coming on this blog). No help so far. We're apparently going to try a different solution this week-our second dog medication. Are they confused? I'm not Clifford the Big Red Dog no matter what Spode says! 

I was certainly as big as Clifford. Pre-diet days. 

Anyway, the sheath issue unfortunately caused my much more dramatic health issue. We decided to try systemic steroids to help treat my itch as we had seen success with the times we used steroids in the past. 

Now I probably don't need to tell you, old sports, that I've had my fair share of steroids in my life. Prednisolone and I go way back. This time we tried Dexamethasone, and it worked a treat! Itching went away and I was starting to come off the steroids to see if it came back when I suddenly felt really, really  terrible. 

Spode came to get me from my field and I was in so much pain I couldn't go to see her. I kept calling to her until she came to me and then she was on the phone to the vet as soon as she asked me to take a few steps. My hooves were so painful! I couldn't stand on my front hooves properly. Our vet came out and diagnosed me with laminitis. I've heard her talk about this before and my vets in England talked about it too whenever they gave me steroids. It always sounded scary, and now I know why. It's awful, old sports. I would not wish it on anyone. It took months to recover and I was in so much pain that I was lying down just to get some relief. 

I've never wished I was a smaller horse until this happened.

Luckily, the turning point for me were these fancy wooden shoes I got. They felt really strange at first but it only took a few days before I realized I could walk again and didn't need to lie down anymore. They are amazing things! 

On the plus side, I have been heavily doted upon in these hard times.

Fast forward a few months and I am doing a lot better now. I'm back to regular shoes and Spode and the vet hope that I can go back to bare feet this summer if things continue to go smoothly in my recovery. 

Well, almost normal shoes

And now we wait for the laminitis ridge to disappear 

I'm hoping to do more exploring with Spode this summer as my lungs are doing very well at the moment and I had been happy to go on rides up until I came down with this terrible laminitis. Spode was really enjoying it too, of course. I'm out of full retirement and into "semi-retirement" which basically means no dressage schooling as bending my neck aggravates my lungs. Lots of quiet hacking suits me just fine!

For now, Spode has been keeping busy getting my fitness back after my months of stall rest. I had been enjoying it lots, bucking and being silly in the arena every chance I got. But for a week now I have felt very tired all of a sudden. I just don't feel much like myself. So, you guessed it, our vet was out again to make sure I'm okay. Hopefully I'm just adjusting to the changes but I had some blood tests just to make sure there's no problems as I have a history of getting tired before other symptoms start showing up of bigger issues. 

Just not feeling 100% myself. And that just won't do, old sports. 

Maybe after this I will give Spode a break. It's almost time for my many vaccinations, so no excuses needed to see my vet I guess. Spode might like a holiday from constantly worrying about me. I'm still deciding... 

My "looking for trouble" face. Looking for my next medical mystery! 

Until later, old sports.

Jay.