A Change

So as of the day this blog posts, Scarlet will have been getting dosed with reBalance for seven days. It’s not really enough to tell if it is helping him but it helps me mentally. He’s definitely not in love with it. I’m pretty sure he feels tricked when I go out there and don’t give him any treats. And it probably tastes awful as well.

Physically, Scarlet seems to have gotten slightly worse? It just seems like its a bit harder for him to move comfortably. He can still move and still gets down to roll so I’m concerned but trying to tell myself not to be too concerned.

My goal for this week was to find a new vet with whom I felt supported and would have easy communication. I got a couple of numbers from friends and made some calls. It was a bit difficult to make myself call (phone anxiety gah) but I did it.

The vet I ended up going with had amazing office staff and she called and spoke with me for twenty minutes about the situation before I ever had to schedule an appointment. I felt more supported in that call than I ever felt with the last vet.

Even more amazing. I spoke to her for the first time on Tuesday of this week. They got me scheduled for Thursday of the same week. (Shout out to the random client who allowed their appointment to be rescheduled for mine.) So quickly. And I was so grateful. I needed someone else to come out and look. I’d had another breakdown early this week. It just felt like I was watching Scarlet slowly slide into oblivion. And I’m really not ready for that. And I dread finding out that that is the only option.

On Thursday I took a half day off work and met the vet out at the barn. She started loving up on him immediately. He seemed pretty cool with it. Scarlet isn’t an attention starved horse but he doesn’t mind it. The vet began doing just some basic physical tests in his stall: making him cross his feet to see if he puts them back, visual acuity check, pulling on his tail etc. Scarlet just kinda stood there. She asked me if he was normally this chill as the leg thing can sometimes make horses frustrated. I told her he was. And he is. He can get spooky but he is really tolerant of you on the ground messing with him as long as monsters aren’t coming.

Then we had to take him out of his stall. I was a little nervous about that as I haven’t done it in about a week. I am just overly concerned with the drainage ditch in front of his stall. I can’t avoid it and I have visions of him tripping and breaking a leg or his neck or his head exploding when he falls. You know, normal worries.

He navigated the walking portion fairly well. We did a tiny bit of trotting and lots of tight circles. He didn’t like to walk with his head up or down but walked fine blindfolded. The vet even commented on how little he freaked out about the blindfold being put on. She tested his skin reflexes. We walked up and down a curb and up and down a slope.

She agrees (obviously) that he is neurological. She notices that he is very tight muscle wise and flexibility wise and that his hind is more the issue than the front, though he searches with his right fore sometimes when walking. We drew blood for the neuro panel and she suggested adding on an elecro magnetic pulse treatment and acupuncture to the visit that day. It was about $100 more than the rest of the cost. (Wow am I feeling the hit of the cost of everything right now…) We did that. Scarlet wasn’t too sure but he was okay to let us try it if we kept a steady stream of  treats. It was feeding time though so I don’t blame him for being distracted.

I now have some bute to try to see if it helps him move at all. I’ve got ten days worth so I really should be able to tell if there is a significant difference by then. I’ve also got some stretches to do for his neck and back legs. The vet also told me to start walking again as he can’t afford to lose muscle. Yes, ma’am.

The blood test is being sent to Cornell. We will be able to retest EPM, and test for four virus causes of neuro stuff. We will be able to at least eliminate some things based on those results. I was told it should take about a week. So I’m assuming I will hear back Friday or Saturday of next week.

She also said that she’s had great results with electro pulse and acupuncture for other neuro horses and suggests once a week for a month for those treatments. I’m not sure how I feel about that. It’s going to end up being just over 200$ a time between the cost for each thing and the farm call. Which really sucks. And I don’t know how much I believe that those things actually help. Some of it is woo-woo and some of it is not. I haven’t been fully convinced that these aren’t. I’ll have to see how Scarlet reacts. I believe I am going to wait until after we receive the blood work back to even try again. But in the meantime, what is your experience with electro pulse and acupuncture? Any studies done on those and their benefits/cons you can share?