I Think I'm Going To Like It Here

Elvis has been at the Fair Hill Equine Therapy Center for almost 2 months now. I go up every weekend to visit and to monitor his progress. Every week brings encouragement. His leg is looking much better and he is putting much more weight on his hoof. That cold sea water spa is almost a miracle cure. Amy Jackson, Bruce's wife, has been great. She got him this cool hay net that has very tiny openings so he has to work at getting his hay. Keeps his busy mind occupied.

In fact, Elvis has surprised me in how well he has settled in. I have taken to calling his stall "the corner office". The barns at the facility are set up so that the stalls are back to back and the dirt aisle goes around the entire barn. They make great use of this when the weather is bad so they can continue to work or hand walk the horses, as needed. Elvis' stall is at one of the corners closest to the spa. He can look out the front of his stall and he can also look out the side window, as you can see by the photos.There are big windows directly across from the front of his stall so he can see what's going on outside. Perfect location for a busybody type like Elvis. Oh, I forgot to mention that he's directly across from the feed room, so he's the first one fed. I'm beginning to wonder if he thinks this situation is as it should be. He gets fed twice a day, taken to the spa once a day, given all the hay he can eat to keep him occupied, groomed and bathed on a daily basis, and most importantly, no work. And the other day, a cute little blond-haired girl (the daughter of one of the employees) gave him a big piece of carrot. Sort of begs the question "what's wrong with this picture?"....

Last week, I was able to negotiate a bit more walking for Elvis since his leg is looking so much better. He will put that hoof almost all of the way down while he's standing. It's just lacking about 1/4 inch to be flush with the ground. When he walks he no longer hits only on his toe but has just the slightest toe-first landing. I thought his hind leg might swing wide when he walks since the tendon now sits on the side of his hock but was very pleased to see that the stride looks fairly normal. So, Dr. Arensberg, with Equine Veterinary Care, agreed that Elvis can be hand-walked under sedation the long way around the barn instead of going directly across the aisle to the spa. The idea is to try and stretch out that tendon and maybe get that last little bit so his hoof will hit flat to the ground.

I'm liking this "one day at a time" philosophy. Makes every little improvement special.