And the verdict is….

She was a champ for the trailer haul and walked around calmly until the vet saw us. He did various flex testing and a bit of lunging, and he confirmed that there really wasn’t anything obvious that he could see externally. We all laughed when I mentioned I might be that overprotective horse mother and nothing really is wrong. She had maybe one teensy ouchie step when he flexed her right hind, but took her in for some x-rays. She didn’t even need any happy juice to take the x-rays. Doc and I agreed on x-raying her knee – just in case. And it proved to be the problem child.

There was a bit of degeneration it seemed in her knee; a small area that was potentially losing cartilage. It would explain her tripping as well as her periodic, partial ouchie-ness the past few months. And it’s funky to look at the x-ray and know she didn’t even flex badly when he tested her knee. Again, maybe a slight strange step, but nothing that was screaming at us, you know?

I agreed that an injection would probably be the best thing at the moment. I had come fully prepared that a hock or knee might need an injection. She did smash that knee pretty good, and she hasn’t gotten anything except Adequan (and for the past 2 years it’s been every few months). So, I was fully prepared for her to potentially need something. It just makes a little more sense that it’s her knee. Thankfully, her hock looked just fine.

She trailered back just fine – even stuck her nose through the window bars like she usually does. Despite just getting the injection she looked happy and very willing to put that leg first. Sometimes I’ve noticed she’d rather step over a pole or something with her left front first. So fingers crossed that it helps!

Doc also gave us the green light for Saturday. Said the cavaletti would be a really good test to see if it’s starting to help her. And I completely agree. I know it may not fully kick in for another week or so, but I’m perfectly okay with that. I’ve got some hefty work days so that’ll give it a great chance to really work into her leg and do its thang.

I’m relieved, too – many of the horses that I’ve seen injected were much happier and more relaxed after they’d been injected. I’m hoping it’ll last her a long while; I’ll probably put her on Adequan again or try Legend. I have to do a bit of research first.

What about you guys? Have any of you tried both Adequan and Legend? Which one do you like better? And why?