Smile again

So had a wierd few days! Took Murphy down to Liphook on monday and ended up spending much longer there then I thought I would. We did a few nerve blocks that seemed to be pretty conclusive to there being something behind the knew but did x-rays to confirm and to find out what was the cause of the pain and inflammation. the x-rays showed the one thing that David Loyd didn't want the bit of cartilage on the back of the left knee had turned to bone and appeared to be cutting into the tendons and ligaments which really wasn't good news. Depending upon the severity of the damage to the tendons and ligaments would depend on the outcome and the chance of recovery be it full or part or if at all.

I left Liphook on monday completely distraught with the possibiltity that I may not bring my pony home or at best he would need an operation on thursday to try to remove the bone to give him the best chance possible of a full recovery. I decided to leave him there as mor test etc were neccessary on wednesday to decide exactly what the prognosis was and if the operation was worth doing and whether he would be able to fulfill his potential, jump again, just do dressage or nothing at all. So Tuesday I really was on edge.

However my first great piece of news came on tuesday when I got my final results which said that everything was alright with me and the joy was unbelievable. I didn't know whether to laugh, cry , scream shout what so I settled for putting all my effort into the lesson that I had to teach. Obvioulsy at the forefront of my mind was the thoughts of murphy and what the outcome would be on wednesday. Not sure after monday I had anymore tears to cry any more shouting to do or any more emotions left in me!!!!!! But I was ok so that was one thing. My boss said to me maybe it was my week and things were going to go upwards from here.

I have to say the verts and all the staff at liphook were superb. They took the best care of Murphy possible and were excellent towards me answering any questions I had in depth and always enquiring about him and what I was doing with him and what david had said and honestly seemed very interested in both me and my horse. People really did seem to like him and David thought he was a super horse with and excellent attitude to life. Davis took so much time explaining to me exactly what the x-rays , scans etc were saying and how it all effected murphy.

So wednesday we did one more nerve block which interestingly enough only made him 50% sound so we scanned. This is where our fortunes changed. It showed that the bit of bone on the back of his knee was a red herring and was indeed not effecting the tendons etc in any way. What it did show however is that he has damaged all the tendons and ligaments, carpal ligaments at the back of his knee quite badly!!!! BUT and what a great BUT it is he has a 99% chance of making a full recovery and returning to do everything he could ever do so the ong road to recovery will be worth every second and every little difficulty that I'm sure we will encounter along the way. It will be a long hard 9 months of recovery but it will be worth it and fingers crossed next season will be ours! It does however mean he misses the second round of the national amateurs but it is a very small price to pay for a sound horse that will return to a good and hopefully even better than he was before. Now for the moment we have 6-8weeks box rest followed by 8 weeks of turn out under sedation in a very small paddock for a few hours a day then very very slowly and gently he can start walking in hand and then so on. Malcom my vet will be there all along the way keeping a very close eye on him making sure that we are doing our best in all respects to give the very best chance.

He is having to go onto potassium bromide to keep him calm to help to reduce the risk of further injury in the stable as he isn't the most predictable at the moment plus we have children on the yard and although he is staff only to handle sometimes they go in or they give him something and I just cant risk it. Plus to be honest if it keeps him calmer its a lot better for his chance of recovery and I'm all for that anything is so worth a go. He is also having a course of Adequan injections and is going onto a double dose of arthri-aid which is a joint supplement byt nutri science that I think is fantastic. He also has lots of boredome breakers in his stable balls, non-sugary licks, salt licks etc anything that I can think of that will keep him occupied as he is so so bored as already he has been on nearly 7 weeks box rest. Now thats a lot for any horse let alone one that was so fit and ready to event before this all happened. To think this all happened in the field! It is thought that he was galloping around being an idiot like he is and came to a sudden stop and bent his knee back and basically the ligaments, tendons etc have done their job and become damaged to protect any damage to the knee joint itself.

Over all I'm very happy and pleased after the way this week started. I'm all fine and 100% and the horse is going to be fine so roll on. So nice to finally be able to breathe a sigh of relief and smile a true smile not one of those you put on for a brave face but a true 100% meant smile!!!! So thank you to all my friends that have been there and supported however, Mike and of course the vets and in particular David Loyd so thank you all everso.

Big smiles all round and a few drink to celebrate I think. Oh and on top of that some super riding I've had this week including jumping jack over some proper height! Excellent later week than what it appeared it was going to be at the beginning. Role on next season!!!!!!

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