Lucky Boy had his x-rays today on both his leg injury and his back. Lucky Boy is our newest intake from Wanblee on the Pine Ridge Reservation, who suffered a mountain lion attack last year while waiting for the vet to come out to check his injured leg. While you'd think he was very UN-Lucky, x-rays show he did indeed live up to his name and have a lot of luck!
First - his leg has some bony changes but the joints are good and no real issues. He did sheer off half of his heel bulb and will have a slightly larger/puffier fetlock area due to the scar tissue, but it should continue to heal and he should be relatively sound going forward. He likely healed up enough for his owner to think it was ok to put on pasture but opened it back up as it simply wasn't strong enough yet to handle the hills in his area, so we'll just take our time and continue to let it heal and rebuild his strength slowly.
However, the injuries to his back from the cat attack are extensive. His owner did an amazing job healing it and you'd hardly notice other than some scarring, however x-rays showed clear trauma. He broke off the cartilage top completely on one of the vertebrae in his withers, and chipped a few others. The most extensive problem is lower down in the spine and directly under the largest scar area where the bone took significant damage and he now has changes that indicate kissing spines, likely trauma induced. The wound/damage is directly where the saddle and a rider would sit, so he's unlikely to return to being a riding horse. That doesn't even factor in the trauma he has - he has a large amount of anxiety with anything behind him or anything going over his back. Understandably so, considering he survived a mountain lion attack!
There is a surgical option for kissing spines, that could return him to being a riding horse without discomfort, however at this point we are going to focus on his leg and anxiety before considering that. It's possible that he could do lead line rides with a very light rider, such as our Bug Club kids, but only time will tell.
Our vet bill today was $525, $355 for Lucky Boy and $170 for Walter who had his jaw x-rayed and a dental exam. We'll update that in another post - however donations are always appreciated to help us keep the horses fed and healthy.