My partner and I drove on up for Polly’s vet visit this week. I understood that this was going to be an assessment under saddle and likely blocking the stifles for better diagnostics.

And – indeed. Recall that Polly has had under 10 rides at the trainer’s, and probably under 30 with me, all at her “home” barns. They unloaded, tacked up, and briefly lunged her in the arena before the trainer hopped on (still on a line and with the other trainer longing). Exceptionally sane pony did not blink an eye at the big trucks or construction ongoing, as the vet is working on putting in a covered arena not too far from where we were at. No squeals, no big deal, just.. working at a new place. Trot? Cool, no problem, whatever. She’s happy to work. She wants to do things.

Also lame, but hey. Brain’s worth something. Vet mentioned that this is likely old enough that she doesn’t know anything else; this is her “normal.” Explains why she’s so happy to work while also not actually being sound. Vet was also relieved that it didn’t appear to be neck or back, no unhappiness with the saddle, no resistance to the rider.

We discussed. This is not going to keep her from being a “serviceably sound” riding horse as I understand it. Worst case, we go do non-competitive trails for the next twenty years. (I’d be a lot more worried blogging all this if I were going to turn around and try to sell her next year. I like her though, and selling is not in the plan here.)

Blocked both stifles. Injecting joints with no sedative (because we wanted to see her move afterwards!) is an experience. She was reasonably polite, at least. Tacked back up. Rider back on. She looked fabulous. Next step would be ultrasound. The vet’s ultrasound machine was out for repair, returning in the afternoon – and we were there first thing in the morning. But another nearby vet could maybe fit us in? Vet 1 called, checked, and promptly sent us on our way to vet 2.

Vet 2 introduced Polly to the clippers as he needed her stifles clipped for the ultrasound. It is always nice when the trainers are telling the vet “yeah, she’ll be fine” – and she is! Little fidgety, but she’s five. That’ll improve with time and miles. She stood politely for the ultrasound and got lots of compliments there too. Left stifle looks worse than right, right isn’t necessarily normal but it’s better. Confirmed it’s definitely not a new injury. My suspicion is still that she either had this from Louisiana or shipping cross-country. No lameness was mentioned from her previous owner or vets. I haven’t seen anything since I’ve had her. I think we’ve all done the best we could with the information we had, and I’m trying not to beat myself up on this one.

Vet 2 pointed out a lot of things during the ultrasound and was very clear and explained what he was looking at. I retained almost none of the detail. End result is that he recommended surgery. The preferred surgeon for all parties involved (vet 1, vet 2, trainer) is in town next week, and then heads out of country for a while. We scheduled it. I’m hopeful but also an anxious (grieving) mess. I just lost all my dreams for Fetti’s next ten years. I’m not ready to give up on dreams with Polly yet. There’s definitely an argument to be made that I’m throwing a lot of money into a young horse who may never be fully sound, and on some level it’s definitely dumb, and I know that.. but I also know that buying another horse right now would cost me just as much as trying to fix what’s going on with Polly, and buying brains is hard. Buying well-mannered, solid-under-saddle, Haflinger-endurance-prospect brains? Harder. And dangit, I like this horse.

So we wait again.