Visit to Paddy

I went to see Paddy at Rockley this weekend and on the way I was listening to Simon Mayo & sent in a text - they actually mentioned it!!
Arrived in Devon Friday evening, so went to see him on Saturday and he was looking very chilled out - he is starting to put on some weight but I don't think I will see much change until I can get his back sorted out.
The options are leaving it as it is & just do hacking & low level dressage on him, or get him operated on which will mean a lengthy period of rehab, but the potential to be able to do more as he will have a flexible back again and will be able to build up muscle properly......lots to think about!!

Anyhow, Nic let me ride on of their horses and lead paddy, which was a first for me as I had never led paddy off another horse & the last time I rode & led was when my brother was still on the lead rein, which was a LONG time ago!!

They were all as good as gold & paddy behaved as if he had been doing this all his life - think it helped that the weather was lovely!

After riding I spent some time grooming him and generally cosseting him so he remembered who I am, then returned to the B&B, got changed and headed out for some dinner. 

On the Sunday I went back again to see him and again gave him a groom and lots of cuddles and then turned him out with the others, where he was very happy to munch haylage with Beanie, Julie's horse.

After this I headed home to Cambridge, very sad to leave him & wondering what the future holds for him, knowing that I have some research on kissing spines to do and some big decisions to make!!

More bad news...

I have been discussing the issue of Paddy's weight with Nic, because despite being fed lots of muscle building food, he is not putting on much weight and muscle - now he's never been a fat horse, and has never been particularly well muscled over his back, although when he was in consistent work before he went lame he did have a reasonable amount of topline. We decided that it would be a good idea to get the vet out with a view to scoping him for ulcers, although he has never shown any symptoms of ulcers up to now.

Any way, the vet cam out with her senior partner & they took one look at Paddy and said that they did not think that he had ulcers, and that it was his back that was the problem, so arranged to come back and x-ray his back, which they have now done and here are the results;

Basically they show that he has severe kissing spines and is totally inflexible along the part of the spine that runs underneath the saddle. The vet said that the fact that he does not currently appear to be in much pain suggests that he has had this injury for some time, but he would have been in quite alot of pain in the past.

The vet said that she didn't think it would be worth operating on him, and that he would not be able to jump again, he might be able to do some low level dressage, or just be a hack.

This is devastating news, after all the problems with his feet, to find out that things are even worse than I thought they were. I am going to have to find out about kissing spines and look at what the options are before I make any decisions.

For the time being Nic is going to continue exercising him by leading him off another horse.