The Mystery Continues

Thanks everyone for your comments and well wishes! The vet came out Tuesday afternoon. She looked at the bump. Palpated it. Scratched her head. Her first inclination is side bone, which is pretty common in drafts and Cleveland Bays are considered light drafts. He's certainly big enough to be prone to ailments of draft horses.

For those who don't know, sidebone is the calcification of the collateral ligament. But, she was able to feel the collateral ligament under the bump,which if it were side bone, the ligament should just feel bony and hard, not springy like a ligament should.

She did an ultrasound which didn't show anything. It's a tough area to get an ultra sound of, since there's not much flat area for the probe to be on. So, she also took some xrays. Called me back Wed. evening. The xrays did not show any calcification of that ligament. She said that perhaps we are seeing this at the very beginning of the process??? She also mentioned that the coffin bone (which is what the collateral ligament attaches to) had a very slight "bulge" on that side. She said it probably would not be noticeable if she weren't looking for something in that area. She also thought that he should be showing some signs of lameness and that she was remiss in not having me trot him for her on the hard ground.

When she said this, I remembered that back in late May/early June, Jeeves was showing very slight signs of lameness. One of those agonizing "is he lame or isn't he lame" subtle unevenness in the gait. It was never very bad and if I pushed him more forward, he would always work out of it. This is when I hate being here on the farm alone. There's never anyone else around who can watch me ride to see if he IS lame or not. And, if he is slightly off, it would be nice to have someone to discuss it with--how bad did it look? Should I keep riding him since he works through it or give him some time off? Call the vet or wait and see? As you can see, I drive myself crazy with doubt, especially when it concerns the health of one of my animals.

Anyway, I chalked it up to stiffness because of all the time off he keeps getting because of rain, pulled shoes, or my crazy work schedule. By the end of June it was gone and he felt good at the start of our rides.

So, now, the guilt rushed in! I shouldn't have kept riding him through that, that...whatever it was! I made it worse! I've ruined him! Of course, I had a wonderful lesson on Tuesday before the vet came and my trainer agreed he looked perfectly sound.

My vet asked me to see if he is lame when circling on hard ground, instead of on the softer footing in the riding arena. Yesterday morning, I lunged him on a small circle in my driveway, both directions and he looked pretty sound to me. I'm not sure if that's good news or bad news.

So, my vet doesn't know. She says I should go ahead and ride him and just watch it. If it continues to get bigger, call her. Otherwise, wait and see.

I hate these ambiguous, undefinable things. :-( Sigh.

I'm debating whether I should send the xrays off to a lameness specialist??? But, he's not lame. He just has this bump.