Flax Improves, Then Takes a Nosedive

We began our hand walking regimen. Every day I'd go out to the barn, pull Flax out of his stall. I'd groom him and treat bed sores on his hocks, his hips, and his fetlocks. I'd put Surpass on his stifle and give him a shot of generic glucosamine twice a week. He'd get lots of treats- carrots, mints, bananas. I always kept a bag of carrots in front of his stall so other boarders would say hello, cheer him up and give him a treat. His spirits were pretty good, considering he was a horse in some pain and very close to death not so long ago. His will to survive was amazing.

We'd go for a walk around the barn aisle. It was way too difficult for him to walk in the footing of the indoor arena. Around the barn we'd go saying hello to all the horses. Some horses would greet him and others - the mares and the more territorial horses would lunge out, teeth bared. Horses sure can look evil when they want to! All of these horses are usually sweetie pies. It is so silly to see them behave like that.  "My stall! Stay away!" 

When he was able to hold his legs up, we pulled his shoes. My farrier had to lean him up against the wall of his stall to work on him. He left some foot on, afraid to shock him too much with a major trim.

It was now December and Flax was walking every day, looking better and better. He always started out slow then got warmed up. He was still lying down quite a bit. If I arrived and he was lying down, he'd always get up and and hold up that left rear leg for a while. It was always hard to see that. But, overall he was improving, walking more each day. We started to back off on the pain meds.

Towards the end of December we got some snow. The vet suggested we ace him and put him out in the round pen on the soft snow for twenty minutes or so. The goal was to increase the turnout to about three hours a day. He was doing well, enjoying his turn-out. Soon we were able to skip the ace.

I had plans to go out of town for the holidays. A friend of mine offered to do the daily  hand walking and look him over every day. By now he was completely off the bute and going out for an hour or two, depending on the weather. Things were looking good... somehow I was afraid to leave him...

On New Years Day my trainer called me. Flax was looking very bad. He was in serious pain and was extremely lame in both fronts. She could not get hold of the vet. My heart sank... he was foundering.