The vet said the best thing I can do for Louie's locking patella, is to keep riding him to strengthen him up. So, yesterday I took Marie and Louie and met some friends down in Phippsburg to ride. My friend Barbara rode Marie. Louie loaded quite well so I was the first to arrive. Barbara was not far behind, then Susie and Joanie arrived. We got saddled up and headed out. We were riding on dirt roads but these roads are not maintained or plowed in winter. In some places the roads were bare but most still had snow. It was just a bit icy in places but easy to get around where it was icy and overall pretty good, if somewhat slow, riding. Louie was definitely worse today. Not a lot but definitely noticable. He was good at the walk uphill, downhill and on the flat. And he was walking out fast and forward as usual. He wasn't too bad trotting on the flat but was having some trouble. He could not trot uphill at all. We rode for about 2 hrs. mostly at a walk. It was a lovely day and we had a nice ride. But Louie's worsening condition does worry me.
Today, I took Louie out again just for a short ride from home. He was a LOT worse and I ended up cutting my ride short. He was having trouble even at the walk going downhill though still fine where it was flat. He was having trouble trotting at all. The muscles in the stifle area were twitching. I really did not feel it was safe riding him today. I will contact the vet on Monday to see what he suggests.
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