Positive

So Allie was a good girl and had her bute over the weekend and on Monday Natalie hopped aboard (I've hurt my neck pretty bad) to test her out.

She went amazingly. Had more energy and forward than what she's had on a long time. And best yet, not one single cough.

Not a one!

I was super pleased. Her nostrils were clear the very next day too so hopefully that's the end of that. No news from the vets from the last trachea wash yet though.

So, she's been having a few things happening under saddle that said to me she needed body work done. She's been finding it hard to bend away from my left leg, and will trail her left hind in on the straight. She's also been toe striking on the hinds occasionally even after a trim. I've been trying to get in with this one therapist for quite a while and we managed to match schedules yesterday so Allie finally got a treatment.

She had quite a bit going on. Right pectoral has an old injury with scarring that is causing tightness in that shoulder and neck. Her nuchal ligament was not aligned which was causing it to flick o er her wither when she moved her neck side to side. She was tight in her left ribs and her whole left hind from loin to hock was out and tight. She released everything and you could see she stood much better afterwards. I'm excited to ride her next to see how she feels.

Next thing to get done now we've had teeth and body sorted is to get her clipped. We may be attempting to clip her ourselves this year. Hopefully we do an OK job!

Vets AGAIN!!!

Ok, where did we leave off? Was it when I told you guys that the results of the last trachea wash were contaminated so the whole procedure had to be repeated?

Yeah. Very frustrating.

Poor Allie was dragged back to the vets on Friday and had another sedation and trachea wash. She was pretty good for it, but didn't want to load into the float to go home which is unusual. I think she was still a little drunk and didn't know that I was going to leave her on there for a little while until she sobered up.

Her throat looked better, there was less mucous. The vet (a different vet from Tuesday) commented that there was quite a lot of particles low down her trachea possibly from breathing in in the float as I had some shavings in there and I had gotten hay with the float a few weeks before and I hadn't swept it out yet. Maybe that's why the results were contaminated?

She also said it looks like Allie is significantly better and just had a sore throat with some inflammation that might be causing the continued cough so she gave me some bute to give over the weekend to try to settle that and I'm to give her some work on Monday to see how she goes. The vet says I shouldn't scratch from my next comp (Mudgee ode on the 28th May) just yet.

So that's positive. Hopefully she feels significantly better and she can have some light work from friends while I'm in Hawaii for two weeks and then I can come back and work on some xc jumping then go have some fun at Mudgee! Keep your fingers crossed that Allie is feeling heaps better, she deserves it after all this vet work.

Trachea Wash

When I went to pick up Allie today she had quite a lot of discharge (she had even been rubbing it all over her legs). She coughed a couple times while getting ready to go.

Once we got there the vet checked her vitals and noted her elevated respiratory rate. She then had a bit of a trot and canter in the round yard to get some mucous cleared. She coughed quite a few times in there. Poor thing.

She was sedated and they put the scope in again. They took some more mucous (there was so much more than last time she was scoped) and it's being sent away again for another culture and a sensitivity test to find out which antibiotics are the right ones to treat it.

Allie was a gem the whole time, as per usual.

A couple of screenshots from the video my sister took of when the vet was trying to insert the tube into the gutteral pouch. If you guys wanna see the video let me know and I'll upload it, it's super boring.

Vets again

Back to the vets again tomorrow for Allie for another trachea wash to make sure the bacteria is all gone. If so, steroids for Allie.

The vet sounded like it would be a simple thing. Maybe I'm letting my imagination run away with me thinking she has rao.

Hopefully. It's hard not to be all doom and gloom when it comes to Allie because of her history. Poor thing.

Allie Airways

So Allie finished her antibiotics and has had a few rides as per vet instructions.

She has not handled the work at all. :(

Her coughing is now producing mucous. She coughs 10-20 times under saddle during a 30-40 minute ride. And one or two times while being tacked up.

I really think she has recurrent airway obstruction. I hope not because honestly, WHY. She's never stabled, she eats a feed that is wet down, she's on grass.

She still has the itch too. Maybe it's her whole immune system having issues?

Who bloody knows. I'll be on the phone to the vet tomorrow. Poor Allie.

Wings

Ok so while Allie was off this week I built some bigger jump wings. They're a little bit dodgy but they will do for now.

Today was the day I had to test ride Allie after her antibiotics. She has had a little discharge from both nostrils the last two days but today under saddle she only coughed twice, both mildly. I'll call the vet tomorrow to see what she thinks about the discharge but I think it's sinus related, mild secondary infection that she's fought off.

Anyway, to celebrate riding again poor Allie got to jump. And Natalie kept putting it up higher and Allie kept jumping it until we found ourselves jumping a meter. That's 3'3" to you imperial people.

And I wasn't nervous or worried about that height at all! I was, however, rusty and Allie needed more room to approach a fence that height properly than what we have in that little riding yard. But I was super pleased with her try, there's no dirt in her at all.

I just need to learn how to release.

Results

Ok so just got Allie's results back. It is bacterial (yay) so the vet says that she doesn't want to give any steroids now because that can interfere with the immune system fighting off the infection (as steroids suppress immune function).

So Allie is to finish the antibiotic course she's already on, then I've got to do a few test rides to see if there's any more coughing. If there's not, fantastic. If there is, then I've got to take her back for another trachea wash and start anti inflammation treatment.

Hopefully it's just a bacterial infection that she's picked up from the stupid racehorses.

Vet Trip

I took Allie to the vet on Monday to get her teeth done and to have her scoped because she's been coughing intermittently under saddle.

When she had the gag on, I asked to have a feel inside her mouth. The pack is still in there nice and tight, everything felt pretty good in there except for a wave mouth on the bottom. The vet couldn't remove the whole wave at once so we are to go back in 3 months to flatten it out and then she can go back to 6 monthly dentals.

The scope went well. I got to see her larynx and her trachea, it was pretty cool! There was definitely more mucous in the trachea than what there is meant to be so the vet took a sample by putting some saline down there then sucking it back up again. It's been sent off to be cultured so we know exactly what we are dealing with - if it's a bacterial infection or an inflammatory response. If bacterial, obviously some antibiotics will clear it up. If it's inflammatory, then the treatment is a little more complicated. She will get some steroids to help open up the airways, iron injections, and a specific medication to help alleviate the immune response until it all clears up and she goes back to normal.

In the meantime, no riding that will cause turbulent airflow which will only aggravate the problem. So that means we need to scratch from Equestriad on the 16/17th April (my birthday weekend) so that sucks. But her health comes first of course! Poor thing, no wonder she's been coughing.

Hopefully she comes good and we can prep for Mudgee ode at the end of May. The next comp after that isn't until September so I would love to get to Mudgee before the big break.

I'll let you guys know what the outcome of the culture is. I hope it's bacterial!