Barokko's in his 5th out of the 8 weeks until the next vet check. He's been ridden 4 times a week, gradually increasing the amount of trotting. He's up to about 30 mins of trotting in total, but he's not doing it willingly, they have to keep at him almost constantly to complete the intervals. If he's very fresh (for ex if it's windy) or if they have another horse in front to pull him along then they can get him to trot and canter more willingly, but if he's calm and relaxed it's very hard.

It's been 3 weeks since I last saw him under saddle, so I had M ride him in the arena on Saturday. He's lways calm and unexitble in the arena so it's a good way to check how he's really feeling. In the woods he'll always feel like he's doing better because he's distracted by his surroundigs.

It wasn't good news. Absolutely no improvement, he almost seemed worse than he did 3 weeks ago. We had planned on her doing the first 2 trot intervals in the arena and then going out on trails, but he didn't even make it through the first interval. He had to be literally kicked forward to even get him trotting, he resisted every step of the way, and after about 90 seconds he just stopped, refused to trot any more :(

I can accept having to push him a bit beyond what he wants to do, but having to FORCE him to just trot around the arena, and to have him say NO after just 90 seconds... It's not fair to him, and I just won't do it anymore. I've told my riders to forget about set intervals, take him out into the woods, get as much trot and canter out of him as they can, but no more force.

This Post has Nothing to do with Barokko

Just found a pic of M teaching her horse to climb trees and thought I'd share ;)

Pasture Buddies

It was raining the other morning when I go to the pasture, and Barokko and the others were huddling under the trees -



The weather was better today, and one of he mares was enjoying a moment in the sun by the lake :)

Not Responding to the Meds...

The vet called yesterday with the results of the BAL. Clean again, no infection. There was a very slightly elevated mast cell count which coud be indicative of an allergic or autoimmune reaction, but it wasn't present in any of the previous BAL samples, so it's not causative of his problems. Not much to do about it anyway as he didn't respond to Prednisolone, which would have been the treatment... She said she honestly didn't think it was significant.

She asked how he's been doing since he was at the clinic. He's been on the bronchdilator for 9 days now, and has shown no improvement. She says he should definitely have responded by now. Since he hasn't there's no reason to continue medicating him after the bottle I have is empty. She frankly admitted that she's out of ideas now, getting him fit is the only thing left to try, and he'll have to do it without the relief we had hoped he would get from the bronchodilator :(

We agreed to give him a total of 8 weeks fitness training, and then reevaluate. He'll just have to work through the discomfort he has, oh I hate doing this to him. And I can't even ride him myself :( I have two friends who ride him two days a week each, so he'll be worked 4 days a week. The first day, last Thurs, he was trotted 5*2 minutes, so 10 minutes total. By the end of week 4 he should be trotting a total of 30 minutes, still in short intervals. The following 4 weeks we'll have to push him a bit harder, with longer trot intervals, and adding in canter intervals.

Back From the Vet

Took Barokko to the clinic yesterday. I brought M along to ride him in the work test. The test was to see how his pulse and respiration evolved when he was worked, and to provoke irritation so she could see him under pressure.

The work test was simple, first the vet listened to his heart and lungs, measured pulse and respiration at rest. She heard a slight "something" in his lungs, but it was very faint at rest. Then 10 mins of forward trot, listen and measure again, and another 10 minutes of forward trot. It was a really hard test for Barokko, already after the first 2 minutes he asked to please stop, and he had to be pushed, pushed, pushed the rest of the time to keep him in trot. He was sooooo tired at the end :(

His pulse and respiration rates were acceptable for a horse out of work, not alarming in themselves. But as he was worked he developed a clear squeaking sound in his lungs, a sign of constriction in the lower airways.

Immediately after the work test he was endoscoped. As expected, his upper airways looked fine, just slightly red from irrittion, but no mucous, and no anatomical abnormalities anywhere. She took a new BAL sample, to be absolutely sure there's no new infection - with long term irritation and constriction of the airways he's much more prone to catching infections than a healthy horse - but she agrees that the problems he has now asre not due to an infection, if he has contracted a new infection then it's secondary.

So if it's not a mechanical issue in the upper airways, it's not an auto-immune irritation, and it's not an active infection, we're left with the worst possible option left - physical damage of the lower airway tissues. My vet got a hold of a vet in the US who is an expert on pseudomonas, and what he had to tell her wasn't good news. Pseudomonas pneumonias are not only sneaky to discover and hard to get rid of, they also tend to leave a mess behind once they're finally eradicated. He said that if the lung capacity of horses who had had pseudomonas pneumonias had been tested before and after, he'd expect every single one of them to be diminished. It's not a question of did they leave any damage behind, but of how much.

The plan now is to bring him back into work while he receives a bronchodilator. He's to be worked 4-5 times/week for the next 2-3 months to increase his fitness level, before she can properly assess how damaged his lungs are. She still has a slim hope that by working him on a bronchodilator, and getting him back up to a good aerobic fitness level he'll be able to
overcome the effects of the damage the pseudomonas have wreaked and be able to function as a sports horse afterward, although he may need to be medicated to do so. However, the most probable outcome is that he will not ever be able to be ridden normally again :(

Confuddling the vet...

I talked to the vet this morning, and she's at a bit of a loss at his lack of response to the Prednisolone treatment. I'm bringing him to the clinic to have him scoped after being ridden, she wants to double-tripple check that she hasn't missed a mechanical problem in his palate, larynx, or throat, but I don't think that's it, his symptoms aren't similar to any of the horses I've known with either a low palate or constricted larynx...

24/7!

I've unfortunately developed preg.-related pelvic instability, which not only means I have been absolutely forbidden any kind riding at all until after the baby is born (bummer), but also radically limits my mobility in general. So to avoid having to lead him back and forth, mess with feed buckets etc, I decided to turn him out 24/7 a couple of weeks early. He's already been gradually adjusted to a full day's worth of grass, so no problem there, and he's made good friends with the little pinto pony, so he'll be alright. I did feel like a bit of a bad owner to turn him out full-time right in the middle of a rainy period, but the temps are OK, and there are trees along the fenceline for shelter, so intelectually I know he'll be just fine. He's still being weaned off Prednisolone, but now only needs meds every other morning, so I just bike down and feed that to him at the pasture. Luckily, biking is quite comfortable for me, much more so than walking, and the physiotherapist said as long as it doesn't hurt biking is fine, and actuly to try to bike a little bit each day to keep just some fitness. I'll also start some physiotherapy-led training in water, so I'm hoping I can retain some strength and fitness so it won't be too hard to come back to normal after the baby's born!

I contacted my vet re: Barokko's lack of progress on Prednisolone, he's actually gotten worse lately. She said it didn't sound too good, and asked me to send more detailed description of his symptoms, which I did yesterday afternoon. Today is a holiday, so she probably won't reply until Monday, I'll just have to wait and see what she decides we should do next.

New Friends

Barokko met the two new ponies today. There's a grey and a chestnut/white pinto, both geldings. The grey was the dominant one, charging at Barokko with flying hooves as soon as he entered the pasture. After about 15 minutes of unrest they began settling down to graze, still keeping a close eye on one another. The pinto hovered around, very curious about Barokko, but not quite daring to defy the grey.

I left Barokko with them for about 7 hours, and when we went to bring him in he was standing by the gate with the pinto, enjoying a little scratching session. Barokko scratched the top of his back, while the little guy reached up to scratch Barokko's shoulder ;) Of course they got distracted from their grooming session when we came close, so had to settle for just a pic of them hanging out.

Taking it easy

Hasn't been much going on recently, Barokko unfortunately isn't making any progress, his status is exactly as it was before we began treatment... He has to be completely weaned off the Prednisolone before we can consider any other treatment, so until May 20th there's really not much of anything to do. I ride him lightly (walk and a little trot) a few times a week, just to give him - and me - something to do, but I have to admit that it's hard to stay motivated right now :(

On a positive note, the weather's turned into full-blown spring, and Barokko's enjoying spending most of his days on the big grass pasture. The horses that will be spending the summer there on 24/7 pasture are beginning to arrive, the first 2 are moving in today, a couple of teeny little ponies. I'll be taking Barokko over to meet them tomorrow where I'll be able to keep an eye on them :)

Plodding along - and baby news!

Barokko felt so bad Tues that I decided just to let him chill for a few days before trying again. I rode him briefly today, and he was much more energetic, very willing and eager - but still very very bothered in his airways. So progress in how he feels, but not yet in the state of his airways. Past the halfway mark on the high dosis treatment, as I don't know what to expect I can't judge if it's going well or not... The first 2 weeks - April 6-April 22 - are the actual treatment period, the following 4 weeks are really just to wean him gradually off the Prednisolone, so after the 22nd I'll have a chat with the vet to give her an update on how he's doing.

The good news is that in the moments where he during our ride where he was doing OK were absolutely fantastic! (and inevitably followed by a coughing spell, poor guy).


And now for the second part of the title - I'm pregnant :D I'm still comfortable riding, although I've cut down on how much and which horses. Sitting trot is OK some days, but not others, so that'll probably be no-go pretty soon. But other than that - oh yeah, and going up steep hills my belly hits the cantle - I can ride normally. I don't jump anymore, and only trail ride with company, but that's not due to physical reasons. Obviously, at some point in the future (hopefully a long way away still, but who knows) I won't feel good in the saddle anymore, I'm just hoping Barokko will be up and running for a bit before that happens ;)

I'm due in mid September. My plans for Barokko is to put him on 24-7 pasture once he's done with the meds at the end of May, and let him stay there through August. That'll get the barn work down to a minimum which I'm sure I'll appreciate (and my husband will, too, he's the one doing all of the mucking and heavy lifting right now ;) ). I don't want to just give him a bunch of time off now, he's been off so much because of his illness that once he's back in business I'd like to keep him that way, so in September and October I'll put him in full training with my trainer. I'll look for a half lease who can help keep him in shape up to my due date and when he's back from the trainer's in November. I have no way of knowing beforehand how quickly I can get back in the saddle, how much time I'll have for riding etc, so it'll be really good to have a helping hand. I'd posted an ad online and gotten several interesting responses, so as soon as he's OK I'll contact them again and see if one of them is a good match.

He's almost through the first week of treatment. It's taking its toll on him, he's not a happy pony right now, lots of coughing and very irritated airways :( I hope it'll turn around soon.

At least it's spring, the weather's nice and warm but not hot, and he's on grass pasture approx 5 hours/day along with 2 other horses from the barn. Anytime one of us three owners come out to get them from the regular turnout all three horses come galopping and neighing to the gate - methinks they like their grass ;)

No infection

There's no infection, the BAL samples were clean, what a relief!

Today we started him on meds. Prednisolone (glucocorticosteroid) for 6 weeks supplemented with Equimucin (acetylcysteine) for the first 2 weeks. He's to be kept in light work while in treatment, he's just not supposed to be pushed to the point where he starts breathing hard. So it'll be walk and some trot. I'll use the time to keep him supple, obediant to the aids, further work on lateral movements, and I also plan to introduce him to the double bridle.

During the past couple of weeks I've begun getting him used to grass before the fructane really kicks in, and will move him onto 24-7 pasture once as he's done with his meds at the end of May. It's important that he gets the Prednisolone in the mornings because of the interaction with his natural hormone levels, so until the treatment's over it's most practical to let him stay stabled at night.

Getting Worse :(

Barokko's been getting worse this week, the past few days he hasn't been up to even light trot work. I'm waiting impatiently for the vet to call with the results of the BAL samples. I'm hoping we can get him started on meds very soon, it's very worrying to see him deteriorate again so quickly :(

The waiting game - again...

Baokko still has a tendency to cough in the beginning of a ride, and sometimes struggles to clear his airways in canter. As long as he's been improving so well I haven't given it that much thought, obviously a pneumonia is going to leave some tracks. But looking through his journal, I realized that his airway status hasn't actually improved the past 3-4 weeks or so, where up until then it had been steady improvement. So I gave the vet a call, and her response wasn't positive. She didn't want him coughing at all, at this point he should have been completely symptom-free :(

So off to the clinic on Monday. She scoped him, and his upper airways were clean. Then she took a BAL sample, which looked clean, but she sent it off for testing just to be sure that he doesn't have a new infektion going on. She doesn't expect there to be, which leaves us with chronic irritation.

If/when the BAL results come back clean, she's going to start him up on an intensive treatment with prednisolone, a glucocorticosteroid often used to treat astma in horses. Hopefully, he'll respond well to the treatment, and both his lungs and his immune system will get a well-deserved break. Only time will tell whether that break will be enough to let him get back to normal after the treatment is finished.

So another week or so, and then it's medication time again...

I went to the arena again on Wed, this time we rode in the small arena as there was a jumping lesson in the large arena. The small arena has one short side which is very scary, there's a walkway behind the arena wall that the horse can just peak over, behind that there are large plate glass windows so you can see everything going on outside, and an open door wafting lots of spooky sounds in. We've ridden in the small arena 4-5 times, and each time we have to start out with a couple of spooks and spins in that end. Once he gets to work and concentrates he's OK, still tenses up a bit, but will work past it.

He had Thursday off, then we rode dressage at home in the outdoor on Friday. He worked quite well, but didn't have the same energy as he's had recently.

Saturday M took him out on a trail ride, lots of cantering and a few hills. He was fresh and forward, and just a little bit looky. He hasn't been out on trails alone much lately, which always makes him a little more spooky ;)

Yesterday, I decided to jump him. Started out with some trot work over a cross rail and a cavaletti, then on to an upright. He did 80cm easily, but again tired a little quicker than I thought he should. It looks like it's time to increase his energy intake! So his new daily diet (besides hay) consists of: 1 kg Icelandic Power, 750 g Gras Mixand a spoonful of garlic flakes. On riding days he'll additionally get 250 g Speedi-Beet and a dl of oil. I'll see if that's enough of an increase to start with, he's a pretty easy keeper so I don't want to just jack up his feed and risk him getting fat again, he's only just about gotten rid of the flab he accrued while he was out of work ;)

Lots of Room, aaaaah

Went up to the indoor yesterday, and was lucky enough to have the large arena all to myself :D I decided to push him a little more than I've done until now, as his general fitness level is getting to be good enough for actual work now. He was a little resistant in the initial trot work, but relatively quickly settled down and worked very constructively. I did a bit of sitting trot which also went well, I've sat a few steps at a time, but this was the first time I really worked him in sitting trot. When we got to the canter he - as per the norm - slowed after about 2 circles, and was about to fall back to trot. I've pretty much limited cantering in the arena to 2 circles' worth at a time, but wanted him to give me a little more yesterday, so when he slowed down I got on his case a bit, and then shot him down the long side at a good clip. "Oooh, I can go fast? OK!!!" and off we went - I looove riding in a 20*60m arena ;)

20 mins walk to the arena, 30 mins of good work, and then 20 mins walk back home. He was tired, but not exhausted, which I was pleased with.

First Jump

M rode Barokko in the outdoor on Monday. They warmed up playing mikado - a game I have my students play, riding patterns over and around poles scattered all over the arena. They played in walk and trot, and in trot Barokko really perked up, pricked his ears toward the next pole and really looked like he was enjoying it. I decided to let them do some more pole work, and set up a line of trot poles for them, which Barokko flew over expertly, beautiful rhythm and swinging over the back.

He was energetic and seemed to be having a lot of fun with the poles, so I decided to set up a teeny little jump with a trot pole leading in, just to see how he'd take it. He hasn't jumped in AGES, so I was expecting maybe a little hesitation or over-jumping, but no. He knew exactly what he was doing, adjusted the approach perfectly, cleared the jump nicely without any hype, and landed in a relaxed canter. I gave him a little more height (75cm) to bring out some more bascule, and he slipped over smooth as silk :) I had them go over a few times each wat, and then I did a little bending work with him at the walk before finishing off with a big hug and a carrot. Good Boy :D

Today I worked him in-hand. I've been training M and her horse in-hand the past 6 months or so, so after I'd warmed him up I let her try to work with him a bit as he's much more experienced with the work than her own horse. Barokko was initially very confused as to what she wanted him to do, as she wasn't quite sharp enough with her signals, which lead to him trying out some interesting new lateral movements :P It was really fun to see him as an in-hand "schoolmaster", it reminded me of the feeling the first time I got to ride my instructor's horse when I was still riding lesson horses, he kept running around sideways with me because I inadvertantly pressed a bunch of buttons I didn't even know existed, and that's exactly what was happening with M and Barokko today ;)

Happy Horse

One of the other boarders asked if we wanted to go out on a short quiet trail ride. Sure! Off we went, the horses were fresh and happy, but both very well-behaved. Barokko was nicely energetic, and we cantered several times and did a quite a lot of trotting. We chatted and were enjoying ourselves, and by the time we got back we realized we had been out for an hour and 45 mins! So much for a short ride ;) Barokko was tired of course, this was the longest ride by far in many months, but he wasn't exhausted by any means. I'm so glad he likes to run and play in turn out, it's making his rehab so much faster and smoother than I had expected!

Barokko is steadily improving, being worked 3-5 days a week. The weather hasn't been particularly cooperative lately, sometimes making it very difficult to ride, but we're getting enough work in to keep make progress. I'm so looking forward to spring!

This past weekend M took care of him. Sat she took him out on a short trail ride in the snow, and Sun she rode up to the indoor. She hasn't ridden him in the arena in AGES and she was amazed by the change in him :)

Last night I didn't have the energy to go up to the indoor, so I just rode in the outdoor for about 20 mins, mostly walk (the outdoor is half mud and half ice right now *sigh*). I did a lot of flexions and lateral movements with him, and he responded well, he's slowly regaining suppleness after having become quite stiff during his illness.

Going up Hills

We went for a trail ride with J on his bike. A one hour loop, mostly walk but with a long trot stretch in the middle of the ride (1.5-2 km). We trotted up 2 hills, which he handled really well, he didn't tire significantly. At one point J rode a bit ahead on his bike to get up short but steep a hill and Barokko broke into canter to follow him up. He's showing much more initiative when we ride, but is generally less looky, jumpy, and tense, great combination :)