Medical Update on Tucker

Not The Best News For Sure

I've been icing Tucker's hock with frozen diapers/epsom salts twice a day now for over a week.

There isn't much change in appearance.

I contacted my vet to see how long this tendon sheath injury may take to heal.

His answer? 6-8 months.

Tucker will need to be confined for the whole time.

Holy moley!

I am going to need to find a way to entertain him. He does have the run in shed in addition to his stall, so he gets "out," sort of. And I have to admit Toby and Chance do spend a lot of time visiting him, so that's good.

I've been picking grass 2-3 times a day to give him with his hay.  But what I will do when the weather changes and the grass dies, I do not know.

In the meantime, after talking it over with my human chiropractor, I realized there is one option I haven't tried....kinesiology tape. I've used it with great success on my knees, and it is used on horses.

I found a website with some good directions for taping a hock to reduce inflammation, and I ordered the horse version of the tape from Amazon. It should be here by Thursday.

It is not a cure, but the support and stimulation the taping offers could speed healing.

I don't know if my vet is aware of taping, but I emailed him about it. It's a "no harm" treatment, so there should be no problem.

Now, do you think I need to get Tuck a TV?

Latest hock pictures:

No Significant Change

But An Escape!

I was in Tucker's stall, adjusting the ice boot on his hock and I left his stall gate open.

What I did not realize was that Chance's stall gate (Tucker's actual stall as he is rehabbing in Chance's stall and run in) was open as well.

Tucker made a break for it. Out he went into the paddock. The ice boot slid down around his ankle scattering the ice packs hither and yon as he trotted about, and even took a few strides of canter as I grabbed a lead rope and tried to catch him.

Fortunately, it was hot. Fortunately neither Chance nor Toby felt inclined to join in the romp.

Fortunately the water trough seemed more attractive to Tucker than a full breakaway. Besides the slipped hock boot and his not quite comfy hock gave him enough pause to stop for a drink and I snagged him with the rope around his neck.

Bless all the ground work I've done because as soon as I had the rope looped around him, he was under my control. I let him drink and led him back into the confined safety of the barn.

Whew.

He certainly didn't get any more exercise than he would have on the end of a lead line if I'd tried to walk him

With a potential tendon sheath injury some limited exercise is OK, such as walking about the little run in shed area, but trotting and cantering are not.  Bless his heart that he put his head back together and calmed down as soon as I caught him again.

I keep telling him I'm so sorry he has to stay in like this. I think he understands and is really trying to be good about it.

I may call my vet tomorrow just to give him a report on the fact that the swelling seems to be pretty much the same. I wonder if he has any other ideas to help ease it a bit.

Meantime, I've been watching the Olympic horse events on line, live streaming them from NBC Olympics.  If you have the NBC stations on your cable or satellite provider, you can watch too. If not, I don't know if the US offers any other way of watching. NBC has exclusive rights.

On the plus side, they do offer coverage of just about every event at the Games live without commercial interruption.

Oh, by the way, the announcers for the horse events---on the Internet feed, not on broadcast TV--really know their stuff. Good commentary for the most part and good analysis. On TV? Well one could wish for better.

Tucker Hock: Part 5

Ice and In 

My vet and the consulting vet both think the lesion on the bone is a result of part of the tendon sheath tearing away. So, rather than a kick or blow, it was likely a twist or bad step of some kind.

That kind of feeds into the fact that his front shoe was twisted off that day as well.

The current treatment is naqusone, which is a corticosteroid and antiflammatory. I am icing it once a day and still applying Surpass (in a generic form).  Tuck is also still confined in his little stall and pen.

He is being a good boy about it.

However, yesterday, I took him outside for a little graze and a roll in the dirt.

My bad.

I did not lock the other two Boys in their stalls and Chance decided to come for a visit--a rather energetic visit. He careened around us in galloping, bucking circles and Tuck rolled. Then, pulled a crash and burn of his own, slipping on some mud and landing on his side with a tremendous "whomp" next to the fence.

Fortunately, after he caught his breath, he leapt back to his feet and took off again.

That set Tucker into a rather scary fit of bucking and striking on the end of the lead line. While I would rather have ducked and run for cover, I managed to hang on, settle him back down and head right back into the barn.

He was remarkably self-contained back on the cross ties. Whew.

He is a BIG horse, about 17 hands, and I never quite know how safe he is when he gets riled up. So far, he responds to correction, but his size is pretty intimidating.

I guess the hand walking will only be done without the extra equine visitors.

My vet says it could take months for Tuck's leg to heal.

I just hope Tuck can be a patient patient in the interim.