In February 2007 Clover somehow tore the lateral collateral ligament of his left fore limb. We initially thought that it might be soft or sore feet due to the very wet conditions that we experienced that winter. We gave him a month off in restricted turnout (24' x 24' paddock and his stall) and didn't see any improvement so we took him to Pilchuck Veterinary Hospital for a complete lameness exam by Dr. Lisa Krauter. After all of the flexion tests and nerve blocking, she radiographed the limb and noted some bone reformation in the hoof. Finally, she ultrasounded his foot and was able to just see the tear above the hoof line.
She recommended a combination treatment of IRAP and shockwave therapies for him in addition to keeping him on restricted turnout. She drew blood for the IRAP and a week later we started the IRAP injections and ultrasound treatment. These continued for one month and then Clover was given 6 months for healing to commence.
During this time he had access to his paddock and we would turn him out on grass for 30 minutes at a time using hot tape to create a movable 24-foot square area for him. Initially, we wired the hot tape to our electric fence to keep him honest, but after a month or so we just set up the tape and he stayed inside. Once a month or so he would get his head under the tape and we would hook it up for a day to remind him to stay off of the tape.
In late September, we had Dr. Krauter radiograph and ultrasound his hoof to see how the healing process was going. The bone reformation had greatly subsided and the ligament was filling in and getting denser. As most vets, she gave us a guardedly optimistic prognosis, but recommended that he now get two months of rehabilitation work to strengthen his muscles and slowly start to stress the joint and ligament.
We took him to Pegasus Equine Rehabilitation and Training Center in Redmond, Washington where he used the Aqua Tred and Eurociser to start the conditioning and then graduated to swimming in the equine pool and finally a week of an exercise rider walking him for 10 minutes and an hour in the eurociser.
He returned to Event Horizon Farm in early December 2007 where he started out with controlled walking under saddle for 20 minutes increasing at a rate of 5 minutes each week with a target of walking for 45 minutes comfortably. At that point we would add in 5 minutes of trotting mixed in with the walking.
In the middle of March he started coughing quite a bit and had a shortness of breath. We took him to Pilchuck and Dr. Wendy Mollat diagnosed him with Inflammatory Airway Disease. She prescribed a regime of bronchodilator and steroids (yes, my horse was juicing it). He seemed to be getting better, but when we started tapering off on the steroids the cough came back. She then prescribed a week of oral Interferon, a week off and then another week of Interferon. He's now back to working three days on and one day off for 45 minutes a day, with 30 minutes of mixed walk/trot in the middle.
I'm encouraged and plan to add a few minutes of canter work starting next week before Dr. Krauter visits on the 17th of June for his next check-up and ultrasound.
Sigh...Horses are wonderful animals and I have been learning to enjoy them no matter what.
November, 2008: I had just begun to jump Clover and he was really enjoying the work. The night before the election he colics (intestines up and over the spleen) and on Wednesday morning he has full abdominal colic surgery. What a scary time for me. The good news was that the attending vet turned out to be a great surgeon! We liked her so much that we chose her to be our personal vet at the clinic.
And then the other shoe drops. One month later Clover colics again. Only this time, because of the recent surgery, we can't jog him as hard or as long to get the intestines back over the spleen. He comes through well but because he has a thin stomache wall he is given extra time to heal.
May 2009. We injected his stifles to help smooth out his hind end and it seems to be helping. Our trainer can now canter him (a little, he's still getting back in shape) and I hope to get back on this next week. It will have been over two years since he really was in work and I look forward to it. Hopefully, I can get both him and me ready for a show this fall!
November 2009. Clover and I worked hard all summer and it has been paying off as of late. it seemed that in late September he finally got in good enough shape to really start getting into shape! Since that time he has been getting better and better each time we work him. I find him very interested in working and he really tries very hard to understand the movements that are being asked of him. Sometimes he gets frustrated with a new move, but the next day he has it figured out. He is much rounder and forward now; more like he was before getting injured two years ago. We decided that he was improving so much that we did not show him this fall and are now aiming for the spring shows!
May 2010. All of the time we spent on flatwork and conditioning is paying off! Clover is listening well and, now that ski season is over, he and I are coming along quite well. We are scheduled to ride at a schooling show in Woodinville to see how far we have progressed over the winter.
May 15th, 2010. We attended a schooling jumper show at Gold Creek Equestrian Center. He was very "up" once we got there. It took a while for me, with the help of Whitney, to get him somewhat quieter. He was still very excited in our first round (2'6" -2'11") and we took a rail, but we were the fastest 4-faulter. In the second class we got a little out of balance and he turned out from under me and I hit the ground. I like to think of it as pulling a Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum. In our last class we went clear and had a great time.
Summer 2010. Clover and I had a great summer schooling and competing in the 1 meter class. We won some and lost some, but always learned something each time we went out.
February 2011. My friend and team-mate for the last five years finally ran out of miraculous recoveries. He coliced one frosty morning and trying as hard as we could, we were not able to save him. You will be missed, Clover.