Conservative update: It’s great that we’ve identified the issue
21 Dec 2022
We did a range of tests on Conservative on Monday morning to check out the range of movement in his legs, and also to have look at his breathing, which is called scoping. The vet and myself watched the scope on a laptop, something I have done many times over the years, and with this horse, it was a model of what you want a horse to look like inside. Nothing was impeding his breathing, and while the vet will now go away and look at it on a bigger screen, I don’t expect him to find anything abnormal.
When it came to the movement test, there was a slight reaction on one of his knees when it was bending, so we x-rayed his knees, which showed there was some very minor damage to his metatarsal bone, which can be treated. For a horse of his age, it is not an unusual problem, but he was clearly reacting to that, so it’s great that we’ve identified the issue.
Conservative will now have two days on the walker and then he will return to training. We will go steady with him and then I will increase things for him once I know he is fully recovered. I am hopeful that in three to four weeks we can get him on the track, that is the target at this point.
Scott Dixon
When it came to the movement test, there was a slight reaction on one of his knees when it was bending, so we x-rayed his knees, which showed there was some very minor damage to his metatarsal bone, which can be treated. For a horse of his age, it is not an unusual problem, but he was clearly reacting to that, so it’s great that we’ve identified the issue.
Conservative will now have two days on the walker and then he will return to training. We will go steady with him and then I will increase things for him once I know he is fully recovered. I am hopeful that in three to four weeks we can get him on the track, that is the target at this point.
Scott Dixon
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