Surgery was today… YIPEE! So far he’s doing awesome!
The short version: surgery over, so far - so good.
The version you want to know about:
We arrived in Loomis about 9:30 am. The Loomis Basin Equine Medical Center is a very impressive facility (thanks to those who recommended the place…) Dr. Tom Yarbrough was Hobbs/Sundance’s surgeon, assisted by wonderful techs and other staff members. They are obviously a caring group of people.
As an aside, I do believe we were the only horse there that had mud on his hooves and body - so embarrasing 
Anyway, the first order of business was chest X-rays. Since he arrived, Hobbs/Sundance has been battling high white cell counts in his blood work and has had some congestion. His congestion is cleared up, and his blood work is near normal, but our regular vet wanted to see them just to get a picture on what is going on. Apparently he does have some inflammation still, and we were given the option of delaying surgery again until he is fully recovered. But, based on his great attitude and brightness (plus the $3.00 per gallon for the diesel to get up and back!) we decided to go ahead.
His leg was shaved, scrubbed for 5 minutes or so, then Beth and I were asked to “please wait outside in the sunshine” while they knocked Hobbs/Sundance out with the Ketamine and Dermosidan (sp?) No doubt they didn’t want us to see the hauling around with the crane or something .
But, once he was down we were allowed to observe from a distance as the surgery was done. The check ligament was isolated from the other various things in the area (tendons, etc.) then cut. The ligament is pretty large - I’d guess slightly shy of 1/2 of an inch. The incision was small, on the back side of his leg, and once the ligament was cut he was sutured closed and wrapped.
Then the one disappointment of the day came when we found out that their farrier doesn’t work on Mondays so no one would be setting the toe extension shoe that he needs. Rats! We were told that would be done at the same time. (maybe he said it should be done at the same time. In any case, he did apply an Epoxy toe buildup and used a dremmel tool to do some shaping of the hoof and bring the heel down just a hair.
On the drive home, we called UC Davis’ farrier department in hopes they could see us on short notice. No matter how much begging we did, the answer was still no. (but if they could only see how cute he is!) So we have an appointment on Wednesday afternoon for the shoe fitting.
When we first saw him outside after surgery it appeared that he is putting some weight on the heel and it might be actually landing already. It is a little hard to tell, frankly. Its clear that there is some change in the use of the foot already, even tho it must hurt!
So home for stall rest, more antibiotics, bute, bandage changes and some hand walking. Then we just work and work and work on getting him to weight the heel and bring it down as quickly as he will allow.
Keep your fingers and toes crossed… so far so good!
