Cautiously...

Ben had his recheck today. He hoof tested positive lateral and medial again on the right front as well as on his left front... There was some black goo laterally on the right front that was there last time. We thought it was just leftover from his glue on shoe, but maybe it is real? 

He has been alternating pointing his toes, one after the other, and was doing that again this morning. But he looked fine on tight circles at the walk both ways. And then... then... he jogged sound! I'm cautiously optimistic and his vet is as well. She Rxed a full cycle without shoes to give the nail holes time to grow out. This means he is staying in his stall and going out for hand walks in hoof boots. As long as he feels great, he can walk as much as we want. I am super relieved because I was feeling not great about keeping him stalled for so long. The first or second week in July, we'll regroup, shoot some more x-rays, and then if he is still sound trim and put shoes back on. 

We did discuss the possibility of some of this being related to immunocidin - mycobacterium can trigger laminitis, could the fractionated cell wall have triggered a minor laminitic episode? He definitely started very right front off, bounding pulse, dead lame on the one foot, much like a typical abscess. But there were a few days a few weeks into the saga where I questioned if he was off in the left front at the walk as well. Interesting to ponder. Makes me glad we are at the end of that medication (for now). 

Pulling the classic dog move of going on the wrong side of the pole and hoping I'll fix it for him

His vet also adjusted him today. It really, really helped. I had been watching him lately and just feeling like he was uncomfortable all over. He would shift around in the cross ties, pointing one front foot then the other, and refuse to step over onto a hind leg. He was also standing super wide behind. 

He was very out in his lumbar area again - I had noticed that on his butt tucks he was uneven in his hips even when he was square with his feet. He was also quite sore in his withers. Again, this makes sense. In the pillar work we're doing, he will soften his brachiocephalicus, but then the rocking back to lift up in his withers a bit had become REALLY hard for him. The soreness probably came from his feet. He looked much comfier after she adjusted him and was standing more normally behind. 

He had some funny faces during his adjustment. He would look wounded when things were uncomfortable, but then make subtle signs of releasing afterwards. He's learning to be more expressive, I think. He felt GREAT afterwards and was a bit of a menace while I was trying to hand walk him. He is mostly very good about not hopping or prancing ON me, but at one point did start half rearing and striking a bit. I had stupidly come out without the chain shank, thinking that 95 degree weather and stifling humidity would keep him in line, but this heat ain't got nothing on the stalled thoroughbred. Once I fixed that mistake, he was politely bouncy the rest of the time.