[PHASE 2] An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

Kayleigh stood side by side with the veterinarian she trusted with all her animals' care, a file folder tucked under her left arm. They were in the sandy pen, the same one she had received Caesar and Arizona into several days prior when they had arrived to the Sunrise Hill. A lunge line ran the distance between herself and Caesar, and she held a lunge whip in the opposite hand to swish and keep his speed up. She felt bad making him even trot, knowing how sore he was, but if the doctor was supposed to help, she first had to see the issues. In the days between arrival and present, Kay had confined the stallion to a gentle walk, round and around the pen, exercising his muscles and his brain if nothing else. He still grunted and was visibly sore, refusing to bear his entire weight on at least two of his legs, but Kay insisted he walk a little bit. She had not yet confined him to a stall, either. He spent his time in the round pen with Arizona, the buddy he had made at the Loshenka rescue. Little by little the woman had seen him cracking his shell -- a little spark had come back into his eye despite his pain, and she chose to think he was beginning to get that this time, this place, would be different. Kay flicked her eyes sideways to the vet, and prompted, "So what do you think?"

Doctor Estrada considered the horse, watching him move and after three or four revolutions she nodded her head, pursing her lips a little in thought. "I think you're right about where he's lame. I'm not convinced that's the only issue though. What did you say the paperwork said about him?" Kay took a moment to cluck at Caesar, letting him slow down and halt, then passed the folder to the veterinarian. "Not much, really. Beyond arthritis and cribbing, they didn't have much information on his care at the place they took him from." The vet crossed the distance between the center of the pen and the Loshenka and grasped his halter, and began to examine him. Kayleigh joined her to take Caesar's halter when the doctor moved further down his side, and watched her hands as they skimmed the horse's body. When Dr. Estrada pressed a hand along his topside, where his withers proceeded into his back, Caesar did something Kay hadn't yet seen him do: his ears laid fully back and he raised one hind foot as though to kick the vet. She removed her hand and let him calm down, then bent to press her fingers into his sternum, about a hand's width behind his legs. This time he nearly jerked Kay off her feet trying to bite the vet. "One more, honey," the vet soothed, and then rested her hand on his hindquarters and applied a little pressure. Caesar exploded, whinnying hoarsely and crowhopping sideways a couple paces.

Kay gave the lead slack as he went, then reeled him in once he'd stopped and scratched his forehead, down his muzzle and back up his jaw. Glancing behind her where Dr Estrada was taking notes into a small tablet, she queried, "What was that?" The vet answered her question with a question: "How have Caesar's poops been?" Kay made a face, thinking about what she had scooped out of the round pen Caesar and Arizona were sharing and said, "A little loose, but not liquid. What are you thinking?"

The Latina woman nodded to herself a moment and finished her notes before raising her head to look at the owner. "I would have to perform a gastroscopy to be sure, but I'm almost certain Caesar has a pretty severe case of gastric ulcers. It may be fixing itself, but we're gonna help it along. Have you been giving him bute for pain relief?" Kay shook her head, her blonde ponytail swishing back and forth with the motion. "Good, don't. We'll find a way to mitigate his arthritis, but NSAIDs will only make his ulcers worse. No grain, either, keep him on alfalfa. Keep him as quiet as you can, but given his history I think stalling him could exacerbate rather than help him, so he can stay in the round pen with Arizona. I sent in a prescription for omeprazole, and I'll have you give him that for a week. Keep an eye on him and let me know how he reacts, and I'll drop by next week."

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A week had passed since the vet had examined Caesar, and Kay had followed her instructions to a T. In that time, she had brushed Caesar and Arizona daily, feeding both of them only forage (lest Caesar steal some of Ari's grain), and had lunged the raspberry mare. When she worked Arizona, Caesar watched intently until his friend was returned to him. She thought he seemed to be acclimating. Mostly gone were the sideways ears, and a lot of the tension in the champagne stallion's brow had eased as well. He seemed to want to join them in the pen, and the woman could not wait to see what he was capable of once he was out of pain. He would likely never be completely sound, and she was not sure she wanted to ride him and chance hurting him, but he still could do tricks in-hand and at liberty with the right training. And that training, in her opinion, could only further help his mindset, along with almost doting care. She was in the round pen, in fact, when Doctor Estrada returned, stroking and scratching the stallion's fuzzy flank, and Arizona's too when she presented it.

"Kayleigh, how goes it?" she greeted the stable owner, and Kay turned to smile. "He seems better, less sore and happier. And his poops are near enough to normal that I can't tell a difference."

"Good! We're going to torture him a little today, but in the name of making him better. Go ahead and put a lead on him and bring him into the arena, alright?" Kay nodded assent and did as she was instructed, closing the gate behind her. "What's on the docket today, Doc?"

"I'm going to palpate the same places I did before, and then I'm going to apply nerve blocks to pinpoint where his arthritis is. This will take a little while, and probably a couple days, but it'll help us figure out how best to relieve his pain." Kay hooked her fingers around Caesar's halter and watched as the vet ran her hands along his withers, down his side to behind his elbow, under his sternum, and up to his hips. The stallion's skin twitched as the doctor hit the same spots that had caused him pain the week before, and the area over his hips elicited a stomp and briefly laid-back ears, but nowhere near the reaction from the last time. The vet indicated that this was a good sign that the ulcers were clearing, and prescribed further rest and another few days of the medication she'd prescribed.

Then she set about filling several small syringes with a liquid. This, she explained, would numb Caesar's leg in different spots depending on where she injected it, starting down at the hoof and proceeding upward until he walked without apparent pain. The vet warned the stablemaster that the stallion could potentially stumble as he walked, but that was due to the analgesic. After a couple hours, Doc Estrada had determined that Caesar's knees were what was bothering him. Let him rest tonight, she'd told Kayleigh, and tomorrow they'd figure out his back legs. 24 hours later, it had become clear that the hocks were what was causing Caesar problems, with additional pain in his right stifle.

"Obviously, arthritis isn't curable, but we can mitigate it. We'll start him on an oral joint supplement, then, if needed, proceed to an injected supplement instead. I'll write him a low dose of firocoxib, but only a low dose -- and I want him to work a little each day. Ideally if you know a place he could wade or swim safely that would be excellent to make him a little lighter, but this pen should have soft enough footing to allow him to work here, too. I'm not concerned with his cribbing. There isn't much to be done for it, and it may get better over time anyway."  Kay nodded, filing all the information away until she could write it down. It would be a long haul, but she was now optimistic that Caesar would do just fine.