On Thursday I got a second opinion on Vento.  Dr. Thal brought his new associate Dr. Chessen so I got two vets for the price of one.  They flexed Vento's leg and trotted him off.  They watched Lauren ride Vento.  They probed his leg.

They shrugged and said -- "He's not lame.  Not in the classical sense."  They said there were none of the symptoms of a suspensory injury.  Berkley said every other case she'd seen of a hind suspensory the horse was dead lame after five minutes of being ridden.  So now three out of four vets have said -- not suspensory.

Lauren and I said we thought it was something in his back.  Dr. Chessen does accupuncture so I made an appointment and she came out yesterday to give him a treatment. 

Vento had no reaction to the needles on the left side of his back, but when they went into the right side of his back he nearly jumped out of the cross-ties.  He's also been very hollow to either side of his spine.  After the treatment his muscles had lifted and started to fill in the hollow.

I'm going to ride him today.  Gently, slowly, just walk and trot for fifteen minutes, and I'll see what I feel.  But I finally think we're on the right track.  My gut told me it was the wrong diagnosis.  There's also a problem when a vet won't seriously consider what the rider is telling them.  In some ways we have a better sense of the horse than they ever can.

But overall it's good news so Ian and went out to celebrate last night, and had a lovely, lingering dinner at The Compound. 

And now I get to go ride my horse.  Yipeeee!

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My hips and the backs of my thighs are really sore.  I don't know if that's because of Maarten or the rowing machine at the club, but it's made sitting in my desk chair really painful.  Some of that is also due to the fact that I am vertically challenged.  Okay, I'm short so my feet don't comfortably touch the ground.

So I grabbed my exercise ball, and I've been sitting on that instead.  It's pretty cool.  I can bounce up and down when I can't think of how to phrase the next sentence.  I can roll back and forth, and then my belly muscles go -- What Are you Doing!!! -- because you're really got to keep your core muscles engaged or you fall off the ball.

On the plus side my hips and thighs don't hurt as much.

I think writing while weightless might be the best solution.  Wonder if NASA would accept that as a reason to apply for the astronaut program.

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