Frappe Lou

I've been banished

2008-04-28T18:23:00.000-07:00

Things have been pretty swell until recently. Anne would take me out for walks twice a day and then mommy would come at night, take me out to eat grass, feed me my grain and go home.

The trouble started last Thursday. Mom came out to the barn around lunch time. Normally she is at work on Thursdays at lunch time so right away I knew something was up. My second clue was she was driving the old, gray pick-up instead of her new red car. As soon as she pulled in I noticed it looked like she was hooking up the trailer. I went out in my paddock where I have a direct view of my trailer so I could get a good look. I felt nervous so I pooped. Then I went inside my stall came back out and took another look. Yep, it sure looked like she was hooking up the trailer. I pooped again, went back inside the stall and came out into the paddock for one last look to make triple sure. She was definitely hooking up the trailer. I pooped one more time just for good measure. Mom came in the barn carrying the blue things that she straps to my legs that make me unable to walk unless I take big, exaggerated steps.

Trailer rides usually don't result in us going someplace fun like to the lake for a picnic and a swim. It either means a show, a clinic or going to a place where I am drugged and violated. Since I haven't been ridden in awhile, I guessed it was going to be the latter.

She put my halter on and put me in the cross ties and began grooming me. She spent a lot of time brushing all the tangles out of my tail. I was beginning to think maybe I was going to a show or clinic. Then she took me outside to eat grass. This was unusual. A short time later my Auntie Donna showed up. I love my Auntie Donna. She gives the best butt rubs. She knows just where to touch me to get me to stretch my back up. She's a human physical therapist but I think she does pretty good with horses myself.

Mom let me go back in my stall to pee before putting me in the trailer. At first I pretended I wasn't going to get in the trailer but then mom put the chain on and I gave in.

When we arrived at our destination, Donna got me out of the trailer and I realized we were at the place that mom brought me to a few weeks before where they drugged me and stole some of my bone marrow. I am not sure what kind of weird cult my mom belongs to but I am starting to get really worried. It wasn't too bad when they would just shave my hair and then scan my body but now they are actually poking me with needles and taking stuff out of me. I have heard about bad guys that drug people and steal their organs to sell on the black market. I was starting to wonder if that was going on here. I am pretty sure they have taken at least one of my kidneys.

Some of the staff came out to greet us and the next thing I know, they stuck a needle in my neck. Soon I started feeling very woozy. They led me inside and put me in stocks so I couldn't move around. Brandi got out the clippers and shaved the area over my right hind. Dr Wilkins used the ultrasound to take a look at my ligament. Then Dr Scoggin got out another machine that was really noisy and put it on the same part of me. It was called Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy. That didn't take very long. After, they sterilized the area thoroughly with alcohol and covered everything in latex. Dr W used the ultrasound to guide her so she could stick a needle directly into the hole in my short dorsal ligament of the tuber sacrale. Once she got the needle positioned, Dr S brought over a vial of my stem cells and injected them into the ligament. Dr W then re-positioned the needle and Dr S injected another vial in the surrounding area. There were a total of 10 million stem cells in the two vials. Dr S called it liquid platinum. I was done. Donna took me outside to wake up while mom got instructions from Dr S. At least this time they put stuff in me instead of taking stuff out of me. I am starting to feel like maybe I am part of that weird show mom watches on TV called Lost.

I was relieved that my ordeal was over. Or so I thought. My world really got turned upside down when we got back home. First Mom put Tyler in my stall and then she put me in Tyler's stall. She put up a mesh stall guard so I was trapped inside the stall and could not go outside in the paddock. I was suppose to stay in the stall for seven days. I couldn't come out to walk or eat grass or anything. Had everyone gone completely crazy?

I tried, really I did. I was so good Thursday, Friday and all through the weekend. But enough is enough. A guy can only stand being locked up for so long. Today was a beautiful day and the wind was whipping around. I couldn't help myself. I broke out. I was able to tear the stall guard down and run out into my paddock. It felt good to be free. I tossed my head around and was just starting to enjoy myself when I saw my Mom coming down the driveway. Uh oh. I was busted. Mom came running into the barn yelling my name. I could tell she was upset. I ran out of my stall into my paddock and when I did I slipped on my back legs and almost fell down. It hurt really bad. My right leg was hurt. Oh no. What did I do? I didn't want to stand on it. I was hopping around the paddock on my three good legs. Mom came towards me with the halter. She looked very sad. She put my halter on and put me in the cross ties. I was still really excited. Adrenaline was pumping through my veins from all the excitement and from the pain. Then she brought me a carrot and pet me. She made a couple of phone calls. Jose came to feed dinner. I was starting to feel better.

A few minutes later Jose took me away. He took me to the other barn and put me in a stall with four walls. I can't even see the horses next to me. There are bars on the front so I can at least see out. Jose was nice enough to open the window so I can look out the back. There is no way of escaping. I guess this is solitary confinement. I don't know how long I am in for. The only good thing that happened is Mom came to visit a short time later and brought me my grain. I am sorry I misbehaved. I promise I will be good if you let me go back to my house and my friends.

Finally, the wait is over.

2008-04-16T21:07:00.000-07:00

I got the call today that I have been anxiously waiting to receive for the past three weeks. Frappe goes back to Pioneer next Thursday, April 24, at 3:00 PM for his stem cell implantation.

My Turn

2008-04-12T08:55:00.000-07:00

Mom has finally decided to let me post on the blog. Yeah, that’s right, she is “letting me” write on MY blog. It is called Frappelou not Nettiepooh. I don’t know why she gets to make all the decisions anyway. Just because she pays all the bills doesn’t make her the boss of me. Pluuueeez. Besides she is not very good at keeping it updated. I also think she felt guilty because my cousin Callahan, who is a French Bull Dog, has her own blog that she writes herself. And if a dog can blog a horse can blog cuz everyone knows horses are way smarter than dogs. OK, she does have a slight advantage because paws are definitely easier to type with then hoofs but that is where my good friend Alfonso comes in. He has agreed do the typing for me in exchange for daily back massages. Can you say GENIUS? Alfonso is one of the barn cats that live here. He just showed up one day and decided to stay. He is a Kool Kat. I don’t mean that in the 70’s way cuz I wasn’t born until the 90’s.

Life is pretty good here at Janet’s place but I do have a few complaints. First of all room service delivers three squares a day plus an evening snack and that is OK by me although four or five would be better. But I have noticed that portion sizes have gotten smaller recently. I am not sure if this is because of budget cuts or what but not everyone’s portions have decreased. In fact, my neighbor Duchess seems to be getting more food. And I did hear Anne tell mom that I am getting a little chubby and that she had better cut back my feed to only a couple of handfuls a day. That really teed me off but that’s OK cuz I got Anne back. On Friday when we went for one of our twice daily walks, I decided to teach her a lesson. I waited until we were as far out on the back twenty acres as possible. I was walking along all nice like and then wham out of no where I just went crazy. I leaped in the air, reared, bucked. I did my best impression of a rodeo horse. But Anne is way stronger than she looks. Have you ever seen her? She must weigh a hundred pounds soaking wet. But she dug her heels in and hung on to that leash. I think if she didn’t have that chain on me I would have gotten away for sure. I got in trouble for it but I didn’t care. Nothing bad happens when I get in trouble. They just yell and some times I get smacked but it doesn’t hurt. Mom sometimes threatens to take my food away but she doesn’t. One time she actually went so far as to drive off without giving me my feed but five minutes later she was back. I have her wrapped around my hoof. LOL.

The apartments here are pretty nice. There are 8 units in this building. Housekeeping comes twice a day to clean up after me. Mom says she wishes she had someone come twice a day to cleanup after her. I hear she needs it too. I haven’t actually seen her place but rumor has it she is not the tidiest person. I am glad she hires someone to clean my place. The staff here is usually pretty good about letting me take my naps uninterrupted. It would be nice if management would install high speed internet in our complex though. That would make posting to my blog quicker. I like all my neighbors. Tyler finally got to move in my building last winter. He was staying at the same place but he lived in another building and his place wasn’t as nice. He lives two doors down now so we get to see each other all the time.

Complaint number two is about turnout. For some reason I am forbidden to go out into the lush, green, delicious pasture now. Apparently some vets have told mom and Anne that I can’t go out and they are listening to them. And guess what? Tyler can’t go out either. I think it is some sort of conspiracy. They said that it’s because we are both injured. First of all we both feel absolutely fine. Well, fine enough to go out to pasture (but not back to work). Secondly, how can going out to eat grass in a pasture be bad for you and what does it have to do with being injured? I am totally on board with not being ridden. That part makes perfect sense. Horses aren’t built to be ridden in the first place. But not grazing? Hello – that is what we were put on earth for. God made us to graze the plains. That is what we do. I don’t know who these vets are and what makes them think they are so smart and have all the answers but I don’t like them at all. I wish they would just listen to Uncle Kenny who says we should just be turned out in the pasture 24/7. Now he is a smart guy.

I noticed mom is driving a new red car. I hope she didn’t get rid of our gray truck b/c I don’t think that little red thing will haul my limo and it doesn’t match it anyway. Not that I care about that stuff but Tyler mentioned it didn’t match. I really don’t care how she spends our money as long as she doesn’t buy me any more clothes. I hate wearing clothes. I noticed on Saturday mom took away all of Tyler’s and my blankets. I hope I never see them again. Good riddance. I try very hard to destroy at least one or two blankets a season. If God wanted horses to wear clothes we would have been born with them on like humans. Of course the only thing mom should be spending, is more time letting me eat grass.

Gotta sign off for now. Alfonso says he is getting tired and needs to take a nap.

The Lameskys

2008-04-01T20:22:00.000-07:00

You’ve heard of the Slowskys, the turtles that do the Comcast commercials? Well my sister and I own the Lameskys. Frappe and his BFF Tyler went to turnout together on Feb. 9 and somehow, and I am not implying that they were up to no good that day, they both ended up DFL. Here are a couple of pictures of “The Boys”, as we call them, doing what they do best.

New Washer and Dryer or Stem Cells?

2008-03-30T20:43:00.000-07:00

I am the worst blogger, ever. A lot has happened in the last 5 months. Rather than go back and rehash all the ups and downs I will cut to the chase. On March 4 I took Frappe to see Dr. Carol Gillis for an ultrasound of his back/ SI joint. The ultrasound exam showed that he re-injured his right tuber sacral short dorsal ligament.

This is his third injury in the same spot in 5 years so we have decided that we are going to give it one more shot at getting him and keeping him sound for dressage work. Since this is our last try, I want to do everything within my means to give him the best chance at a full recovery and reduce the chance of re-injury.

After consulting with Dr. Charlie Scoggin at Pioneer Equine Hospital and Anne (and anyone else who would listen), I decided to try Regenerative Cell Therapy (stem cells). It was that or a new washer/dryer combo. You know, the really cool LG steam washer and dryer in cherry red.

What Regenerative Cell Therapy entails is harvesting either fat (from the tail head) or bone marrow to collect stem cells. The stem cells are sent off to a lab for processing and then the new stem cells are injected into the core lesion. I decided to go with the bone marrow-derived stem cells. Although it takes longer to receive the processed stem cells back from the lab, there is some evidence that bone marrow stem cells are slightly better than fat-derived.

On March 25 at 6:40 AM Cat, Frappe and I set off for Pioneer. We arrived shortly before our appointment at 8:30. Dr. Scoggin came out and talked with us for a few minutes and then introduced us to Dr. Jackman. Dr. Jackman is a surgeon and he performed the actual bone marrow aspiration. They reviewed the ultra sound images that Dr. Gillis had taken. They sedated Frappe and placed him in the stocks. There was a horse in there next to him getting shock wave therapy on his leg. Very noisy. They had their ultrasound specialist take their own baseline images of the injured ligament.

After they took the images they began prep work for the bone marrow aspiration. They clipped, prepped and blocked his sternum (between his two front legs). They used ultrasonography to identity the place where the needle should go in. Then they put in this huge needle. It was kind of a big metal rod with a handle on it. It looked very painful but he didn't show any signs of discomfort. He was way stoned though. Then they removed the bone marrow. That part took maybe 10 minutes. I felt like the whole clinic was in there watching. One of the assistants was taking pictures. I thought with her cell phone but Cat said it was a digital camera. Cat took pictures with her iPhone. After they collected the bone marrow, they pulled out the "spicket" and applied a pressure bandage to the area. Frappe was put in a box stall to recover. They said I could take him home in a couple of hours. That was at about 9:30.

We went to visit him and he seemed alert. He was foraging around the stall for leftover scraps of hay. At about 10:30 Charlie came out and said Frappe was doing really well and that he could go home in a half hour or so. They gave him some grass hay to munch on so he was happy. We went to visit with him some more and play with the babies before checking out.

When we arrived home Cat removed the pressure bandage and he wasn't leaking so that was good. He seemed sore in that area of course and a little agitated when she removed the bandages. She looked at the "site" and said it was scabbed over but I didn't want to look. She said it looked fine.

The bone marrow sample was shipped to VetCell's laboratory where stem cells will be extracted and multiplied. In 2-4 weeks the stem cells will be returned to Pioneer for implantation directly into the core of the lesion. Pioneer will call me when they receive word from VetCell that the stuff is shipping. We will probably have 48 hours notice and will make the appointment for him to have the stem cells implanted. . Before they implant the stem cells in the lesion they are going to perform extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) on the area. High energy waves are delivered via a focused beam to the site of the lesion. Doing so is thought to stimulate and recruit various factors to improve the healing process.

Follow-up will be 30 days after that. They will want to do another ultrasound to assess his healing and he is going to have another round of ESWT. He may get a third treatment of ESWT depending on how well he is healing.

Frappe is doing really well. In fact he is feeling quite spirited. Anne is hand walking him daily and I take him out for his hand grazing. The only remaining signs that he had anything done is the shaved spot between his front legs. I will try and do a better job of posting updates.

Frappe's "Ask Didi" Letter from the SVCCDS Newsletter

2008-03-28T21:56:00.000-07:00

Dear Didi,

I enjoy taking a nap every morning after my stall is cleaned and I finish my breakfast. I admit that I do snore occasionally. The humans around the barn often stop and stare at me when I am napping. Sometimes they even come into my stall and wake me up. I find this to be extremely rude. How can I get them to stop interrupting my naps?

Sincerely,
Frappuccino

Dear Frappucino,
I, too, am well known for enjoying my daytime slumber (especially right after my room has been made up by the staff). My choice when someone has the effrontery to enter my domain whilst I am at rest is to ignore them for as long as possible. Sometimes they will just go away on their own, which of course is the right thing for them to do. If they will not take the hint I wait until they come to me, manage to get my halter on and still wait until they actually tug on the halter before I deign to rise. Then I make a big show of needing to slowly stretch front and back (and maybe even another form of 'release') before allowing them to lead me out. Making a BIG DEAL of how you are OBVIOUSLY being roused from a much needed rest usually encourages the human to provide extra carrots or cookies to make up for their poorly timed demands, and this helps assuage the spirit (as well as the stomach!).
As for your slumber being sonorous, do not concern yourself with the opinions of others, I'm sure you have a lovely tone and they are likely just envious!

Dozingly,

Didi

Sad News

2007-10-20T20:13:00.000-07:00

My friend Eva called me today to tell me she had to put her beloved horse, Yochi, down today. Yochi has been a great friend to Eva and I know she will miss him immensely. Please keep her in your thougths and prayers as she tries to heal her broken heart.

Happy Days Are Here Again

2007-10-17T12:18:00.000-07:00

Frappe is officially off the DL. I took him to see Dr. Carol Gillis on Oct. 9 for an ultrasound exam and she released him without restrictions. Yippee!!! The ligament is 95% healed and although there is some scarring, she doesn't think it will bother him. The subluxation is still slightly outside of normal range, but is not a cause for worry either. We are to continue to increase his workload until he is at the desired level. The good news for him is he gets to go back to turnout with his BFF, Tyler. Unfortunately the rain over the last week has limited his play time, but we need it. Poor guy. He finally gets the all clear to got to turnout and it starts to rain. His butt is shaved but the rest of him resembles a woolly mammoth. He's so soft and cozy wozy. Anne will be giving him a full body clip in a few weeks.

Last Saturday Donna and I arrived at the barn around 9 am and Frappe was taking a nap. This is typical for him. He is known to take naps several times a day. And he snores. Most people think he is sick the first time they hear him. I happened to bring my camera with me Saturday so we sneaked up on him and took some photos. Donna snapped a few of me hugging him while he was laying down.

Training is progressing and going well. Anne is working on the simple changes, turn on the haunches and reinback with him. In my lessons we are working on the basics; rhythm, balance, suppleness. Our lateral work is gradually improving. We had our saddle adjusted last Thursday so that has helped.

Last month we rode with Kristina Harrison-Naness in a clinic. We had great lessons both days. The first day it was so hot, I thought I was going to have heat exhaustion. It was about 20 degrees hotter in Davis than at our barn in Fairfield. Krisi and Rociero XV left for Germany to train with Klaus Balkenhol, the US Team Coach, a few weeks later. She will be back home at the end of November and hopefully she will have time to come up for another clinic soon after.

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

2007-08-26T18:59:00.000-07:00

Or is it one step forward, two steps back? Frappe has been on the "DL" with a sacroiliac injury for the past 11 months. Anne Reynolds, my trainer, has been doing all of the rehab work with him from hand walking in the beginning to gradually adding walk, trot and canter under saddle. He sees Dr. Carol Gillis every eight weeks for an ultrasound check-up to monitor his progress.

He is going so well, Anne thought I should try and get qualified for Championships with my first level freestyle. We only needed two scores. Three are required to qualify for the CDS HOY Freestyle class but we had one score from last September that would count. We decided that I should "go for it" on August 1. We had until August 31 to get our two scores. The only challenge was that I had not really been riding in over ten months. I have walked Frappe under saddle a few times and I have ridden Tyler, my sister's horse, about three times. That is the extent of my horseback riding activities since last September. My friend Kerry said "It must feel like you are going from 0 to 80 mph." It did. I sent off entries to two shows. I was excited and nauseous at the same time.

On Monday, August 7 I had my first real ride. We walked, trotted and cantered. Katie had ridden him earlier in the day so I didn't do too much with him. It went pretty well. I had a big smile on my face after cantering my boy for the first time in a long, long time.

Tuesday night I had my first lesson with Anne on Frappe since last September. Anne warmed him up for me. I was having a very hard time sitting straight on him. I was twisting my body to the outside which was really hindering his balance. Anne had me work on pushing my right hip forward. It felt very uncomfrotable to me. I felt this pull in my right hip. Frappe was very strong during my lesson. Anne was surprised he was so strong. She said he has been feeling so good. I said "Great, I've ruined him already."

Wednesday I took the night off to go to the Faith Hill/Tim McGraw concert with my friend from work, Sandi. Thursday we had another lesson with Anne. Everything was a little easier. I am so out of riding shape. I should have listened to everyone who told me to keep riding during Frappe's rehab.

Saturday I rode by myself. We had a really good ride. We schooled some of the different movements of our freestyle. The canter loop with the trot changes, the ten meter circles in trot and the leg yields. I was really happy with our work and thinking we might be able to pull this off. We had one week until the first show.

After I dismounted, I walked Frappe back to the barn and began to have quite a bit of pain in my back. It wasn't my usual lower back pain, rather it was on the right side and radiated down my right leg. I decided to go home, take a Motrin and rest for a little while before returning to the barn to do my chores. I was in so much pain driving home, I wasn't sure I would make it. I tried to lie down but there really wasn't any postion where I could get comfortable. I called my sister, Cat, and she went to the barn to put away my things and feed the boys their grain. Sunday I spent all day trying to get comfortable to no avail. Monday I went to see my doctor. He gave me a pain shot and a couple of prescriptions. My hope of showing and getting the two scores we needed were dashed. Our first show was in five days and I wasn't even able to get on and ride at a walk.

I had a hard time making the decision to put my dream on hold once again. In the end I know it was the right thing to do. Even if we got our two scores, I don't think we would really be at our best by October. And I want us to be the best we can when we do go to Championships.

On August 14 Anne took Frappe to see Dr. Gillis to assess his healing. The news was pretty good. The right tuber sacrum is .41 cm lower than the left on ultrasound but the unevenness appears to be due to soft tissue (fat) over the tuber sacrale rather than sacroiliac subluxation. Both the right and left tuber sacral short dorsal ligaments are within normal limits for size, echogenicity and fiber pattern. Healing is 85% complete. We can add lateral work gradually as well as extensions. She wants to see him again in eight weeks to assess for final healing. Frappe's back is much better, now I just need to get my back feeling better.

This past week I decided I was feeling pretty good and I was ready to ride again and this time I would take things a bit slower. Friday rolled around and I headed out to the barn after work as I do almost every night. My plans for the weekend included riding my horse Saturday and Sunday. As I pulled into the driveway at the ranch, Katie, Anne's working student, and my long time friend was pulling out. I stopped and rolled down my window to say hello. She told me I needed to go talk to Anne. Frappe had done something to himself and he was a little "off". They think he just tweaked something and probably just needs a couple of days off. I drove in and found Anne. She said to go ahead and walk him under saddle this weekend. If he seemed OK I could try a little trot but she thought I should take it pretty easy.

Saturday I rode him for about 30 minutes at the walk. Sunday Katie was out riding Diva. I asked her to watch him trot to see if he looked sound. She thought he looked pretty good, much better than on Friday so we did a little trot and canter work. I tried a little shoulder in and renvers too. Janet helped me with the half turn on the haunches. I am having a really hard time putting my body in the correct position to get him to do the movement correctly. After schooling, Katie and I went on a "trail ride" around the track on the property. It was a pretty good day. Anne will be back Tuesday so hopefully I can start with lessons again this week and we will be back on track once again.

Welcome to my blog

2007-08-24T21:04:00.000-07:00

Welcome. I created this blog so you can keep up on the latest news about Frappe and his friends.