Update on Lucky

All is Going Well: Lucky Update, Yesterday's Post Below

Stacie called me last night to let me know Lucky came through his surgery well.

The vet was pleased to find that the damaged/dead area of bone was small and he cleaned it all out. He was also very optimistic about Lucky's recovery because it was apparent that the necrotic bone was caused by an injury, not arthitis. It seems some horses have chronic arthritic conditions that can kill the bone and he was worried about that in this case, but he found no evidence of it.

Lucky now faces a four month lay up. One month in the stall. One month hand walking. One month of restricted turnout. One month of walking under saddle.

This is posing a bit of a puzzle for Stacie right now as she has three horses at home and whenever one, especially Lucky, is separated from the others the lone horse is very upset. She is also concerned about the restricted turnout, because even though she has a round pen for that, she doesn't think Lucky will settle to a "quiet" turnout by himself.

Right now, she will be stabling him at NJ Equine Clinic, as I said, for a week or so. Then she may move him to a layup barn near her house. The trouble with all of this is that it will cost more money than keeping him at home.

The good thing is that this has all happened in the winter, so losing the riding and training time is not as painful as it might be during the better weather.

As they say, "Every cloud has a silver lining."