Heartbreak

A couple weeks after our June horse trial I noticed that Theo was not quite right on his left front. Nothing glaringly obvious, he would take bad steps once in a while, mostly while warming up at the trot. He seemed steady when he was collected and put together, but left to his own devices he would bobble. After discussing it with his owner, Bev, we decided to give him a couple days off to see if it worked itself out. He goes out in a big field with a bunch of rowdy boys, so the most reasonable explanation was a rough night in the pasture. Nearly a week later, it wasn't any better. Wasn't any worse either. Just that mystery 'not quite right'ness about him. No heat, no swelling. We had his farrier pull the shoe and hoof test him to check for an abscess, and while he didn't find one, he did have some sensitivity in his heel. Uh oh.
Not wanting to mess around with foot problems, Megan suggested we call Dr Peter Blauner, a family friend of hers and lameness specialist working primarily with performance horses (and an eventer himself!), to come take a look.
The day of the appointment I was a nervous wreck. Hoping for good news, something that would be fairly easy to fix, but trying not to set myself up for devastation if it wasn't. After a very thorough exam and X-rays of both fronts, we had our answer. Navicular. Dr Blauner seemed fairly confident about the management, stating that with medication and supportive shoeing he had about a 70-75% chance of being capable of returning to full work and competitions. Score! We would have to be careful of the hardness of the ground he worked on a to not aggravate his poor foot, but we were optimistic.
The downside? Our summer season was pretty much shot. We would probably need to travel farther to compete at events where the ground is immaculately taken care of. No big deal.

A week or so later, in his new shoes, on his new meds, we were back to light work. And he was SOUND! Hooray! Scheduled our first lesson in weeks, tack up on the day of, warm up, annnndddd he's off again. :( the culprit this time? An abscess in the hoof with navicular, most likely from a stone bruise to his no longer pad covered sole. Poor boy. A week of poultices and Epsom soaks, and we're back to business!
2 weeks later: I bring him in on a Tuesday to ride and notice as we warm up he's bobbling. On his RIGHT front. The navicular is in the left. Whaaaattttt?! So back to the barn I go, searching every inch of his leg. The culprit? A kick to his shoulder. Darn boys need to not play so rough! I'm breaking out the bubble wrap.
After the last fiasco, things settle down. We get back into our rhythm. Rides on Tuesday and Thursday, lessons on Friday. We even do a schooling show at our home barn and while he can't imagine why he's trotting around in a class with a bunch of other horses, and it's dark out, and all his buddies are outside, and he can't seem to remember how to pick up the correct lead, we still manage to win both equitation classes. Woot!
The next day, we were finally going to get to jump again. And of course, as is my luck, he trots out lame again. On the good leg. Arrhghhjhhjdehfbj!?! What now? :(