The vet came out, nerve blocked her again and said she was lame again in both suspensories - i.e. when he nerve blocked the right hind she showed lameness on the left. Having done shockwave and gradual reintroduction of work, as well as having given her a long time off in the past, the only real option was surgery.
So last night my amazing friend (and, incidentally, Echo's physio) drove her to the vets, so she could be stabled overnight and then be operated on this afternoon. I felt horrible leaving her there, but she had a lovely big stable, with company on either side and a full haynet, so I'm sure she wasn't too worried.
I've been a nervous wreck today, knowing how they operate on horses - she had a general anaesthetic and I was so worried. But I had a phonecall at about 6pm this evening to tell me that she was back on her feet and tucking into a haynet. They were pleased with how the surgery had gone and, all being well, she should be able to come home in a week.
She'll be on full box rest for two weeks, then box rest for a further six, with gradually increasing hand-walking over that time. After that she should be able to have restricted turnout and start building up the walking so that she can be ridden. The vet hopes that in four months, she should be in light to medium work. She'll be so bored, but I'm confident it was the right decision to make. She hates not working and it has been so stop-start over the last couple of years. Hopefully this will sort the problem and we can get back to full work again by next summer.
So fingers crossed, everyone, for the speedy recovery of her poor suspensory ligaments. Hopefully we should be back on track soon.
