State of the Zorro

[glenatron]

Zorro has been to horsepital.

Two months of box rest have made a negligible difference - he was alright on pure box rest, the moment he went out at all he was coming in lame again - so he needed a full work-up. For that we had to go to the vets, where they have lots of facilities and can do a proper job.

Consequently yesterday we put Zorro in a horse box ( after he had almost bitten my thumbnail off by accident ) and drove him over to the Equine Hospital for a series of nerve blocks. The first blocks reduced the lameness but didn't clear it entirely, the second block was similar. They X-rayed his feet, which showed arthritic changes in the coffin joint and around the short pastern. These seemed to be present in both front feet though, so that may not be the source of the lameness. The vet wanted to try blocking the coffin joint, but he couldn't do that while Zorro was still affected by the previous nerve blocks so he had to stay the night at the hospital. That meant the ride home I had booked wouldn't work out and the transporter couldn't do the next day. It was a stressful evening and I had a sore thumb.

This morning we came in to find that Zorro had already impressed the nursing staff by taking himself on a self-guided tour of the facilities. I'm not sure how he got out, but probably he caught the door when someone opened it and went walkabout. He was very easy to catch apparently. He did have warnings about biting and potentially escaping on his little patient card outside his stable so I didn't feel too guilty.

This morning's nerve block didn't completely resolve the lameness but knocked it down a long way. The vet thought it was worth using a steroid injection into the joint. If the arthritis is causing the lameness then this should help. If not, then we'll maybe need to go back in a couple of months ( which we will spend on box rest ) for MRI. If it's a ligament injury - could still be, then we're probably looking at six months or more of recuperation.

So not great news and we don't really have much idea about a long term prognosis yet, but Zorro is home and happy to be home and my thumbnail hasn't fallen off yet, so I guess there are some rays of light.

Comments

[harnessphoto.livejournal.com]

Poor Zorro. Sending healing vibes! Not that it was likely to happen, but he and Oz are not allowed to meet. They would stir up SO much trouble.

[penella22.livejournal.com]

:(

Hope there's brighter times up ahead. And that your thumb feels better soon.

[velessa.livejournal.com]

Ugh, mystery lameness is such a nightmare! How old is Zorro?

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

He's fourteen, so not that old but it seems like that very heavy cob type tends to be prone to problems like this relatively young- certainly we had to retire Joe at a similar age, though his arthritis was worse.

[gnapp.livejournal.com]

Skutt is 16 this year, and also the heavy type (700 kilos or so).
I hope you'll find the real reason for the lameness, though (some mysteries are no fun at all) and that it's something that can be cured, and quickly,
*fingers and hooves crossed*

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

Me too. If we can't manage quickly, cured would be fine...

[puddleshark.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear the poor lad's no better... Mystery lameness is a bugger. I hope 'time, the great healer' does its stuff.

[spirithorse21.livejournal.com]

So sorry to hear about Zorro! I have been wondering how he's been doing. I hope you get to the bottom of this soon, and that the prognosis is good, even if drawn out.

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

I think if the problem is a ligament injury although it's likely to take six months or so to get back to full working order, there is at least a good chance we could get back to something like what we had. Either way there will be a certain amount of rethinking of the work we can do together :(

[serennig]

Healing vibes for Zorro. Why are horses so damn fragile.

Also, your thumb, but we already know what that's about and that it will heal.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_acerbusangelus/]

aw, sorry to hear that Zorro's still not 100%.

However, I do like that you're listening to Manchester Orchestra.

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

One of my friends pointed them out the other day and I checked out a few videos then bought the Simple Math album. Currently can't stop listening to it- a definite late contender for album of the year.

[z111.livejournal.com]

Oh no!!! I hope they get it figured out. Is he pasture sound?

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

Nope. Only about 2/10ths lame most of the time, but he's on box rest anyways for at least the next month, unfortunately.