'She is looking like a Dressage Horse!'

That was a quote from my awesome vet today - music to my ears!  Today was a lameness re-check for Riva coupled with a farrier visit at the doctor's office.  Riva lost her right front shoe (yes, the expensive custom made one) sometime between Sunday night and Tuesday afternoon.  Our farrier could not get to her till today - but said he could meet us at our vets office, put a new shoe on her, and get to see what our vet determined.

We went out to the barn early afternoon - only high of 97 degrees perdicted for today - and loaded up the Diva.  She went on after a couple of attempts and we were on our way.  Arrived at our vets office, which she takes walk ins on Friday for equines, and it is first come first seen.  Lucky for us, with this heat, very few people were there today.  Our vet looked at her briefly before the farrier got to work. 

Our farrier had already made her custom shoe at home last night and was ready for her.  Riva was a really good girl - she got to stand in the grass munching while our farrier worked his magic.  After the shoe was back on, our vet wanted to see her move in the round pen.  Due to the shoe being off a few days, and our ground being rock hard (record heat and no rain), she had developed a stone bruise and was tender on that right front.  I thought - 'great...she was moving so well the last time I rode her on Sunday' and now this!  But the vet was able to see how well she was extending her left front and moving from the back end.  And surprisingly, she was not too bad on the right front.

Vet had us bring her in the clinic to shoot a few x-rays to check her angles.  She took views of both front feet - lateral views.  She was very pleased with how level her knees and shoulders are.  Vet had us and our farrier come in and go over the x-rays with her.  Vet was thrilled with how good her feet are looking now and how far she was come.  She said she would not have expected this much improvement in two months - she was thinking we would be at this point in about six months!

So new plan is to keep shoeing her the same - except to re-shoe the back feet next week - keep her on a 4 week farrier cycle.  I am to give her 3-5 days off, due to the stone bruise - she got a gel pack in the right front to pull out the bruise and she is on a round of Bute.  Then, I am to go back to straight line trotting, lots of walking and can up the rides from 3 times a week to 5 if I want.  After one week  of this, I can add straight line canter - yeah!  She also said to start adding some shoulder in - just a few steps at a time.  She wants to make sure she is equally performing a shoulder in on both reins.  When she sees her back in 2 months, if all is going well, we can start adding circles.

Great check up!  Our vet was also very impressed with Riva's better attitude and willingness for her and the farrier.  She was pleased to hear how well she is responding under saddle and her more forwardness.  She also gave her a body score of 5 - loves her weight and muscleing at this time.

When the vet and farrier were finished, Riva loaded right up - on the first attempt - and we headed for Serenity.  Of course, she got lots of treats when we got home :)