A long road to recovery ahead

Zano had his vet trip booked in. Before we went the vet had advised that I keep him working as normal, so that they could see what he was like in work. When we arrived at the hugely impressive and smart new equine practice, the vet, Chris, gave Zano an incredibly thorough check over. Starting at his neck, he ran his hands over each part of Zano, his legs, his back, his pelvis. Then he watched Zano walk and trot, then flexed his legs and watched him do it again. He was definitely still slightly lame when he trotted on the concrete. Then he trotted in a circle on a hard circle, before moving to the school. He was lame on the left rein then, too, when he was lunged. It was his off fore that was the problem, the one with the lump just above the fetlock.

Zano being a ‘patient’ patient during his
initial examination, good as gold (as ever).

So – next step? To nerve block the off fore fetlock. That gives a chance for a local anaesthetic to go into the joint, so that the seat of pain can be located pretty exactly. Then, if Zano became sound with the nerve block, Chris suggested that we should x-ray the joint to find out more about what was making it sore. That bit all made sense. It was kind of what I was expecting. But what he said next was a bolt from the blue, the very last thing I’d been expecting...

Chris said that Zano had a sore back when he’d examined him at the start. I said that he was often touchy about his back. Chris then said that he suspected Zano had kissing spine, given his short back and high withers. He suggested that when they x-ray Zano’s suspect foreleg, they should x-ray his back, too. I nodded, not quite knowing what to say. I’d heard about kissing spines before, where the vertebrae touch, rather than have a gap. But I’d never known any horses with it... and now Zano may have it??! I thought it was one of the worst things a horse could have, but I told myself just to wait for the results of the x-ray. My heart was beating faster already, though, and it wasn’t about to slow down...

Zano was taken into one of the treatment rooms and he had his nerve blocking done. Chris had a strong suspicion about where the problem in his fetlock lay, and he got it right first time. His nerve block made Zano nearly come sound. Then it was x-ray time. Zano was sedated, and me and Paul left the vets to it, knowing that Zano was in very trustworthy hands. Julie, one of the assistants, was so sweet with Zano, and really kind.

After waiting a while, sitting in the sun and feeling a bit stunned, the results of the x-rays were in. The diagnosis? Well, it wasn’t great news. The x-rays showed arthritic changes in his off fore fetlock joint. And his spine? It was confirmed, right there in black and white – kissing spines. There were about 4 vertebra that were very close. Once a rider was on his back they’d definitely be touching, and then there were about 4 more that were permanently touching, even without a rider on his back. This is what was causing Zano’s back pain. I felt shocked. But, as Chris explained more about the condition, everything began to fall into place. Zano’s resentment of the saddle, his stepping away from me getting on and the way he felt ready to explode for the first few minutes after I’d got into the saddle. I thought that was all to do with a memory of a bad experience, but instead, it was an everyday pain for him, and I couldn’t believe how stoic he must have been to put up with it. My heart went out to him, and it made me love him even more, if that was possible.

The next conversation Chris had with us was about treatment. The good thing was, we had options. I knew, standing there in the treatment room with a sleepy, sedated but still sweet Zano, that I’d be prepared to try anything to make him feel better, and give him the chance to hopefully lead the fulfilling life he deserved. One thing we did know: a potentially long road to recovery lay ahead of us... and we’d just taken the very first step.

Zano's Succes

Well, this has been a month of big ups and even bigger downs. But, I reckon we should start with the ups... Zano went to his second ever show as a competitor! It was a summer open show at one of the riding clubs I’ve joined, and the weather couldn’t have been better. Zano had been bathed and groomed until he sparkled, and I changed his browband from the plain leather to one with a bit of bling! He looked stunning.

We entered into two classes to begin with – the in hand foreign breeds (because he’s Spanish) and the ridden foreign breeds. The first class was a bit of a nightmare – Zano was hugely excited by all the other horses around him, and objected strongly to being followed at close quarters by a miniature pony!! His trot is so awesome I couldn’t keep up with him, and his head was in my way so I couldn’t even see where I was trying to run! Anyway, that kept my boyfriend, Paul, and best friend Fran, watching from the ringside, well entertained! In the end, it wasn’t that bad after all, and we managed a 5th! (Oh, hang on, there were only 5 of us in the ring... still, no-one needs to know that, do they??!)

In the ridden class I wasn’t sure what to expect. He’s never worked in a big open space on grass, trotting and cantering with lots of other horses. But he was awesome, and he really showed off. The judge described him as ‘drop dead gorgeous’, which I thought just about matched what he felt to ride, and how he looked and felt that day. The individual class wasn’t so hot though, and he got a bit attached to the horses around him (he didn’t want to leave them to begin with!). That meant we dropped down the order from 2nd to 4th, but I was still over the moon with our 4th placed rosette.

The proud pair

Just before we left, we thought we might as well enter for one last class – Handsomest Gelding. That was Zano’s idea, by the way, not mine. He must have got it right though, because we left with another rosette, 4th place out of a huge class. All in all, it was a fabulous day out and he behaved himself really, really well. I didn’t over ride him at the show, getting into the saddle just to warm up and for the ridden class. I made sure he had plenty of rest (and some grass time) between the classes, too, with his saddle off. But I did notice that just before the last class he started to shift his back legs quite a bit, and it was something I was a bit worried about. But that was okay. He was booked into the vets for the following week. He’d been slightly on-off lame for a few weeks. He’d been the same the year before, since I’d first started riding him soon after I bought him. He’d seemed better over the winter, when he’d had his shoes off, but it was back again. The lameness was hardly noticeable, and my boyfriend, Paul, couldn’t see what I was worried about, but I thought a trip to the vets would put my mind at rest. But instead, what was to happen at the vets was to have the complete opposite effect...