Those posts you don't want to write

Tsar went to the vet on the 22nd of feb. blocked sound in the back of the foot and had really really clean X-rays. A little side bone but nothing unexpected in a horse that raced until he was six. Certainly nothing that lept out and screamed I'm the problem. This points towards the soft tissue inside the foot which I can't see without a $3000 MRI and I think we can safely rule that out. I have always had some doubts regarding the soundness of the right fore, from a few shorter steps here and there but he missed being worked last summer much because I was too poor to do much with my horse and lost all interest really after putting butch down. 

So basically the harder ground of summer brought the issue to the fore and he became unrideable though he had always been prone to stumbling on that foot, obviously that got worse with the harder ground to the point of being dangerous. On discussion with his prior owner I found out that the tightness in his neck and shoulder had been a problem from the time he came off the track and this problem occurs as a result of him moving oddly over his sore foot.

He had a cortisone injection into the coffin joint and showed some improvement for a while but the next treatment is a $700 injection and I don't feel the response to the steroid was enough to justify spending that. Especially when you consider the offness is 5 and a half years old. 

There is a slim possibility that with box rest and rejab on a perfect surface and then the improvement with the sting gone from the summer ground. The sort of surface he needs basically doesn't exist in my area to rehab on. Also his foot balance was really good so not much improvement could be made there. So basically I have made the call to not to pursue treatment.