thirteen days.
After only one day with no bute, Ace came in this morning with the front half of his back completely rigid and the rest much stiffer than it has been. All the rippling muscle effect from after the jabs has disappeared and his back is pretty much immobile as he walks,
I can sense some people asking why I would not give the poor lad some bute to take away the pain, and it is for two reasons. One, pain is not something that exists as such, it's a fabrication concocted by our brains to stop us doing things which are causing us damage. This is, of course, why people with amputated legs sometimes report pain in their feet, and why people like me can turn it off in situations other people would find unbearably painful.
He has minimal damage to his spine at the moment, and the best chance of success is to prevent any more knocking together of the spinal processes. If pain when he does too much is the result, then it has a purpose and I am loathe to remove it with only two weeks left to go.
Secondly bute both upsets his stomach and is incredibly bad for the liver. A vet once told me that no horse which has been on a clinical dose of bute for any length of time will get away without some damage to the liver. Sometimes it's justified, of course. Like Tetley having it while his hocks were hardening off, and horses who would otherwise have to be put down anyway. But I can't see a good reason to risk a young horse like Ace at this stage.
Going back to the point, there's even more reason today to believe that Ace will not only be put right by the surgery, but that he will be back to a calm, quiet horse to ride after it. I am much more confident now than I was a couple of days ago.
Radar and I had a short hack this morning. Short was not his choice! We reached my intended turning point. To the left was home, to the right was up a steep half mile of hill that we often canter up. Which way did he turn - away from home up the hill of course. I had to make him turn round, what a horse :-)
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I agree about the Bute. Too often, if we mask the pain, it's too easy to make an injury worse. And, the risk of systemic damage from high doses of Bute is just not worth it at this point. Poor Ace. But he's put up with the pain before, so two weeks (a little less) is not so long.
ReplyDeleteAs for Radar? His boundless energy never ceases to amaze me. I haven't known many horses with that kind of work...or is that fun...ethic. *G*
He's certainly a character :-)
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that's why i am concerned sometimes by my use of painkillers - have to do it, but i do sometimes worry ....they do mask the pain, which is the point, but there's then a concern that one does too much ....through not feeling the pain and stopping...quite apart from the damage paracetamol can do to the human (and no, i don't take more than allowed)
ReplyDeletePain relief is a balance Claire, as you know. Sometimes it's more important to keep moving, and the pain needs to be suppressed. Of course in us humans there are also horrible mental health drawbacks to not being able to do stuff. I get abominably depressed if I can't ride.
ReplyDeleteI think Ace will cope for less than two weeks, though he was terribly stiff walking out tonight.
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Thanks ML I have googled it and firocoxib is licensed in the UK for use in horses for arthritis only. It can be used 'off licence' but wouldn't normally be for a horse like Ace on short term Bute. If things go longer term I'll bear it in mind.
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This post is answering one left by ML on the previous post!
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Neurological pain is another creature entirely.
ReplyDeleteYou may want to read the research showing long term chronic pain rewires the brain to always feel and expect pain (even if the source is gone), leeches serotonin, other hormones and even vitamins, and
Darn phone!
ReplyDeleteand changes the neurological system at a fundamental level. Not what's happening here, but it's a problem in people who believe pain is just someone who needs to man up. :) It is fascinating reading
So it's firocoxib, a cox inhibitor. The vets prescribed it for Tetley for pain (recovery from an injury) other than arthritis so I am assuming it is effective for many kinds/ sources of pain.
ReplyDeleteAccording to my googling it's very effective with pain, it just isn't licensed in the UK for anything but arthritis treatment.
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