The Continuing Saga of the Big Leg

I haven't updated everyone for a while on Gailey's progress. She's been getting massage therapy on her big leg for about a month now. I've been riding her regularly. I even rode in a lesson on Thursday in the 95-degree heat. We both held up better than I thought we would.

I've been working with Wendy of The Well-Kneaded Horse. At first, I saw an inch difference in the size of her leg. Lately, it's remained consistently the same size, though my trainer believes she's much more comfortable. She says she looks more sound than she has in a few years. I understand these things take time. I just have no clue how much time.

Wendy is using massage and cold-stone therapy treatments. She's done lymphatic massage on people, but never horses before so we're both interested in seeing how this goes. Her lymph nodes are sore, which I guess might mean that they're not working properly. Also, with horses you're working against gravity. They can't put their feet up like people can with swelling issues.

Unfortunately, in this heat wave we've had this week, her leg has gotten bigger, which is no surprise. Heat doesn't help swelling, I guess. I've been hosing it, but it's not making much of a dent.

Gailey definitely enjoys her weekly massages (I could be so lucky). The things we do for our horses!

I've also toyed with trying acupuncture. My vet is skeptical, while others I've spoken to have raved about it. I'm always open to new options, but there's only so much money. Has anyone here had any experience with alternative therapies for horses?

Updates from Jami

I wanted to drop by with a short post.

First of all, if you're interested in reading updates regarding Courtney King-Dye, you can go to this link:

http://www.courtneykingdressage.com/

Her husband has been updating it regularly.

Also, I've been riding Gailey as if there's nothing wrong with her. She is going better than she has in a long time and remembers all her "tricks" such as changes, half-passes, shoulder-in, haunches-in, extensions. She just has this BIG leg. I'm open for suggestions on what to do about it. My trainer thinks that even if I did show her, that I'd risk being rung out of the ring from that big leg, even though she's sound on it. In fact, she's sounder than she's been in a long time. According to my horseshoer, he thinks that in a strange way the swelling is giving support to her stretched suspensories. Here's a current picture of her leg.

Her cellulites has turned into Lymphangitis. I'd be willing to try any treatment. One friend told me to put rubbing alcohol on her leg and massage it until the alcohol is dry.

I need to call my vet tomorrow to see what else we can do. Her leg is the same size it's been since December.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend. We took a weekend trip to Port Townsend and are heading home this morning.