Thanks for the comments on my last post, I am still clearly not keeping up very well, but I appreciate them!
Putting Odin back in training for the winter was an incredibly great decision as I am still barely managing to get to the barn these days.
But when I did ride a couple weeks ago I noticed two things, he was absolutely horrible in the mouth region and he seemed stiff on his right hind. Trainer R was positive he needed his teeth done and thought it was time for a soundness check too.
A teeth float has mostly done wonders for his mouth, although he has some residual mouth stiffness (probably still expecting it to be uncomfortable). So at least that was an easy fix.
Last Friday, the vet came to do a soundness exam and pretty much immediately said the Odin needs some help in his right hind stifle. Not too surprising, as this has been his bad stifle since I vetted him 15 months ago and his workload has been lighter this winter. We x-rayed it then and it x-rayed clean.
He is only flexing positive about a 1 and as a comparison we flexed the left hind and he came up positive on that stifle too, although much less so.
For now we decided to go back to routine estrogen (I had him on a 4 week cycle) and Surpass. The estrogen hasn't come in yet but after a week on the Surpass he is feeling a ton better. Not sure what the next steps will be - an ultrasound was mentioned but I bet that is spendy - but for now with new teeth and his magical lube, he is a happy horse again.
The winter weather has not been so kind to us, but I am relieved he feels better.
Glad the float made such a positive difference! Good luck with the stifle too. I haven't had to manage stifles before personally but understand that fitness is pretty effective in many cases.
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