The Search Continues

     So I had our vet out to take a look at Mort. She gave him the once-over looking at his legs, vitals, listening to his lungs--all the good things. She didn't see (or hear) anything too troubling so we pulled some blood. Blood work came back looking great. All wonderful and great and my horse is still acting weird. She did suggest that he could have ulcers causing some performance issues which is a totally viable possibility. He is on an oral supplement but most of those don't really have a lot of scientific studies behind them.

     We also discussed the possibility of the cold weather causing some flare-ups in his wonky legs. It would explain the not laying down and performance issues if he hurts just a little bit. I've definitely felt him being not his normal self under saddle, but I haven't felt any specific lameness. He's definitely not been head bobbing. After feeling his legs, and finding no heat or swelling, and saying that I haven't noticed any lameness we decided to just do the blood work and not a lameness exam (for now). Fam, don't do that--if the vet is there you should just do all of the things.

     Out of my own curiosity I threw him on the lunge after the vet left. We started tracking left and while he started out short/stiff on the front end he did work out of it after some trot and a little canter. That's totally not unusual for him. I switched directions and we picked up the trot. He was moving better than when we started but there was a bobble. It only presented itself when he was going downhill on the very slight slope outside. It only presented itself while tracking right. It was a small and inconsistent enough bobble that I even had another boarder come out to watch and make sure I wasn't imagining things; I wasn't. Shit.

     So yesterday he had the slightest of bobbles while tracking right. He did run around like a madman in turnout this weekend because there was some shifting of turnout pairs. It's entirely possible that this happened then and he'll work out of it in a day or two. It's also entirely possible that it was minor enough that I was compensating for it in our riding and only felt it as "meh" effort rather than an actual lameness. I 100% never saw or felt a head bob while riding, but I do think that it's so minor that I could have covered it up accidentally.

     I told the vet and she suggested doing a Bute test--giving him Bute to see if it goes away while on pain meds. It's a pretty simple and inexpensive way to find out if pain is the issue. I'm going to see what he looks like on the lunge today. Wednesday are his days off. We'll take another look on Thursday. Could be a tweak from being a dummy. Could be that it's time for some joint injections. Could be that those suspensories are angry.

     If Mort isn't feeling better by Thursday, I'll definitely put in another call to the vet. We may also end up going to the vet school for further diagnostics/injections. Eventually we'll get my boy figured out.