Now for the bad news. I got a lot of feedback from the net people on
recovery times for ligament injuries. You were right! My new horse Shatta
twisted himself a bit during a spook during day three of Death Valley and
came up gimpy. The Duck said he is hurt, get him checked. Shatta looked
perfectly sound the NEXT day, and our vet looked him over with an ultrasound
and found some swelling, but nothing major. He told us his ultrasound
equipment is not the greatest, and since we were taking Judy's horse
Warpaint to UC Davis anyway, we should get Shatta re-checked. We did, and
came back with a slightly torn suspensory ligament. Ouch. The poor beast
will be recovering for about 8 months. (Is all my luck this bad?) So much
for this year. The good news is they expect him to make a full recovery, it
will just take a while.
Warpaint seems to be suffering from some degenerative joint problems. The
experts called it "wear and tear". We will be treating him with Adequan
and some shoeing changes. He also gets a few months off as well. It will
be a slow endurance spring and summer at our house.
Nick Warhol