Chiming back in … it’s been 6 days from exam, shockwave and 10 robaxin per day. I’m supposed to do 10 in am and pm, and realize I’ve not been doing pm.
His back feels like BUTTER. I don’t remember ever feeling his muscles so soft. I think it’s the shockwave.
This is encouraging. One of my other threads has the saga with his feet, but if shockwave might give him some relief I’ll do it asap (he’s on 12 robaxin 2x daily, and trazodone, herbal pain relief, E, and magnesium soon).
Kind of random, but would you be open to discussing with your vet using prednisolone as a low-dose anti-inflammatory? It might help break the pain cycle.
I mean I’ll chat with the vet about anything tbh. I just want him comfortable- no expectations to be a sporthorse.
I would highly recommend boots and pads for him, at least in front, for now if you can. It’ll help provide extra squish and if his feet ARE bothering him, help with that. I really like the Easyboot Clouds. It’s a bit of work to keep them on 23/7 but I’ve seen a few weeks in cloud boots allow horses to find more comfortable movement patterns that really help. It’s another $200, so I totally understand if there’s hesitation, but it’s kind of a drop in the bucket relatively. Good luck with your boy, I know how awful it is when they’re hurting and you can’t figure out why. 
I have some boots for him, the sneakers? And some other options to borrow. His feet, as they are right now, are just so unbalanced and weird shaped that I’m not confident anything will fit (thanks farrier! See my other horse care thread for pics lol they’re rough).
Yeah it’s super tough when I can’t just snap my fingers and make him comfortable. Fwiw, he’s just as sound on the gravel driveway as he was in shoes, pads, and pour in. So… that’s something?
I like the clouds because they are pretty forgiving in terms of fit–the super thick pads let them dictate where they’re distributing weight, and can help with alignment issues when the hoof is out of whack due to poor trimming. It encourages them to load more evenly which helps with better movement. And the fit doesn’t need to be precise, unlike the other boots that are designed for performance use.
Good luck…right now I’m fighting my own battle with a horse that’s NQR, clearly sore in his back, been slowly peeling back the onion and sometimes it feels like one step forward, three steps back. It’s HARD and I just wish they could talk to us.
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