We Survived...!

When you expect the worst and then you finally get around to that situation where you were expecting the worst....it usually ends up being not as half bad as you originally thought it was going to be.  Really, I was more upset about all of this then Chester was. 

Enter - DVME Extraordinaire. Today was Chester's first of three Shockwave Therapy sessions.  Leading up to today, I was not a happy camper.  From what I know knew about Shockwave, I wasn't looking forward to my horse having to go through it.  The last thing I wanted to be dealing with was Chester grunting in pain each and every time the machine shocked him.  Technically, the machine uses Soundwaves to help the damaged area heal.  Some genius however, decided that Shockwave sounded better considering  that is more what it feels like.  Thanks whomever you are.

You know what it feels like?  Think about touching the electric fence.  That's as close to a comparison as I can describe. It isn't pleasant, but it could be worse.  The hardest thing about the whole process, was listening to the damn machine making the noise!  Each shock makes a really loud clicking sound (again, like the sound the electric fence makes), and the only thing I could think of was ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch every time the machine went off.  And, he was shocked 1,000 times...yep, you heard that correctly, 1,000 times.

Chester - took it like a champ.  He barley budged the entire time - the brave boy.  He was a little bit uncomfortable around the back of his heel when DVME was around that area, but it was just a shifting of his weight.  He is now resting comfortably in his stall waiting for the sedative to wear off before he can go back outside.  That is one of the benefits of this therapy...there is no recovery period other then waiting for the sedative to vacate his system.  He gets to resume his outdoor solitary confinement within the next hour or two.

DVME says that I should definitely see an improvement by the final session (end of June) at which time, if all goes according to plan, hahahahaha, I will be able to walk under saddle and then take it very very very very very slowly from there.  There is nothing I can do now but continue to wait.

Oh - as for the 'Pickle'...yep, you guessed it...out the entire time. There is something seriously demented about my horse.

The process starts by the torture victim being given a sedative and the damaged area getting clipped down to the skin

Then it is cleaned thoroughly...not disinfected though, because there is no needled piercing the skin.

Then some gel is applied to the area and then -> Let the Shockwaving begin!