2011 – Rock & Roll – 10-18-11 – MASSAGE WITH SUNNY

10/18/11: Today Rock and Sunny got massages. Sunny was thrilled and Rock was confused that someone other than he and Roll was getting my attention. Rock has been having real problems with his hips  Last week he was able to lift each hind leg slightly off the ground more easily than he could today, but with Joanne supporting his left side, we were able to dress his feet with the Rainmaker and Thrush Buster again. The lower wrap on his fetlock was wet and the sore underneath had healed well, so I did not replace it. He did skin up his left knee pretty good though, so I did wrap that again. It is difficult to keep the wrap on the knee, but we just have to check daily. Rock enjoyed his massage work and liked it when we did some traction exercises on the hips. It does seem to help some, but I fear he is getting weaker behind as a whole. He is eating well and maintaining a lighter weight than he had in September. He has been on Bute for four days now with the first three days 2 grams morning and evening and then 3 days with 1 gram morning and evening. It does help to keep him from hurting. He is also getting Gastroguard with it to protect his digestive tract. The snow and ice prevented me from getting him to the indoor arena for more structured exercise which may or may not help at this point.