Dr Ron Colton examines Misty
Earlier this year, Misty’s foster trainer Kelly Larsen noticed that Misty was showing some stiffness and inconsistency in her work to the left, including difficulty picking up the canter in that direction. We had Dr Ron Colton from Evergreen Equine out to examine her, and he confirmed what Kelly had been seeing: Misty’s work to the left was not of the same quality as to the right. Dr Colton recommended that we try injecting the stifles to see if alleviating any discomfort would help her gain strength and symmetry.
Misty did show some improvement after the injections and is now moving better to the left.
At this time, Dr. Colton does not believe that Misty will need ongoing injections, unless the type of work she is asked to do is very demanding. He does suggest that she may be better suited as a trail horse, rather than one that does a lot of arena work involving repetitive circling. While this may mean she is not perfectly suited for a career in dressage without ongoing joint maintenance, Misty loves riding on the trails and would probably prefer a life of outdoor adventure! So we’re going to go ahead and consider this to be good news about our Misty girl.
Misty’s current foster situation is coming to a close with the advent of wet weather, so we’re going to be looking for a new foster home for her right away, preferably one where she can get more time on the trails. If you’re interested in becoming a SAFE foster home, and you can provide the type of set up that we require for our foster horses, please contact us at foster@safehorses.org so we can talk to you about Misty!
