What's Up Wednesday

 

It's still winter. I know that's not news, but just in case you forgot. We are enjoying a few days reprieve though, with temps in the 40's. Feels almost like spring! Ha. Anyway, you're not here for the weather, you're here for horses. So let's talk about them!

Listen, in the winter we're lucky for any media...

Al has been wonderful! We had lessons Friday and Sunday this past week. I think jumping twice a week is what my little brain needs right now. I'm finding Al a little tricky in that you have to stay on the gas pedal all the time, but you also still have to keep all the parts in line. If you focus on something other than forward he thinks he can have a break. Which, I mean, relatable.... But boy, do I get out of breath after a course! It may sound like I'm frustrated, but I'm really not. I'm enjoying the learning curve we're on. But I am also looking forward to when we are more in sync with each other. It will come!  
I had some struggles in our Thursday lesson. Nothing major, but he was a little up so trying to manage forward with keeping his attention was TOUGH! Sunday though, he was very relaxed and everything was just so much easier! 

Here's a short clip from our Sunday lesson:

Oh but Saturday... Ha. Saturday we had a little excitement. It should have been a nice easy flat ride. But the winds outside were blowing hard. So much so that the roof was rattling, which Al isn't so much a fan of. He can handle things he doesn't like, but if another horse has a moment... Al thinks he should too. What can I say? He's still a kid, not yet 7 after all. Anyway, we were trotting toward the "scary" end of the ring when there was a huge gust of wind and one of the other horses in the ring spooked and bucked. (Thankfully that horse's rider is used to such antics and she held on fine.) Anyway, Al took that cue to also spook, except as he was spooking he tripped and fell on his face and knees. Then in the process of righting himself, let out an enormous buck. Somehow I held on though! (Pure luck I'm sure.) He was fine too (thank goodness) though seemed a bit embarrassed. He was a perfect gentleman the rest of the ride.

Eros is doing well. Per our discussion with the vet, he's trying a little Meloxicam for his winter soreness and I think it's really helping him. He's not 100%, but honestly, he never is. He's giving me great work though, and while he's still pretty strong when we jump, I think we're making progress in getting back to where we were last summer. In our lesson last Thursday, we were able to jump a small course, though we did need a few circles to reestablish our canter. Still an improvement over where we started a few weeks ago. Back then he was just torpedoing at anything I pointed him at. I mean... remember when he did the 4 in the 5? I do. I did not like it. Yesterday, I tried to recreate the exercise I liked having at home, but with poles instead of small jumps. It's just one pole on each diagonal, and I let him figure 8 over them until he thinks it's boring and stops trying to take over. Unfortunately, we didn't quite get to that point before someone came in to rig a horse, but I still think it was a productive ride. We have a lesson tomorrow, but hopefully I can try it again another day. I think if I can get his internal metronome reset, I'll have my summer horse back. Wish me luck...

Not much to report back on with Pammon. We're walking 30 minutes a day still, but using the Equicore bands every other day. They seem to be helping I think? I can feel a difference in how he steps with them on. But it's really hard to say for sure until we're able to trot. All in good time though. No need to rush things. 

More news on the Shiny front though... She was actually going to see the vet this Friday, but he was scheduled for a pre purchase on Monday for a horse that was delayed in transit. So she had her appointment Monday instead. If you remember, when the vet was out last, Shiny had hit her head and couldn't be ridden that day. We tried some shockwave, but honestly, it didn't really help, and she had some new issues developing. Namely, kicking out any time I asked for right lead canter. That's not entirely new, but in the past it might happen on the first transition of the day and then it went away. But now it was every single transition, and that really screams soreness to me. 

So doc watched her go, did a bunch of flexions, watched her go some more. Finally we did some blocks and watched her go AGAIN. Long story short, the biggest problem? She's much too fat. She always puts weight on at the boarding barn because she eats too much hay there. Mostly when she's out in the paddock since they just throw hay for the day out there, and she goes out early so has ALL of it at her disposal. Girl can hoover I'll tell you. While it's easy to say, "please only throw one flake out there for her" it's not always easy to actually get done at a busy boarding place. People get used to what they do, and it's hard to change habits. But I just ordered her a hay pillow, so hopefully that will at least slow her down in the stall. 

The weight might be the main problem, but the symptoms are many. She was actually mildly lame right hind for the vet visit which I've sometimes thought I felt, but was never convinced. Doc hasn't seen it until this time though. In addition to the lameness behind, she was also showing soreness in her SI as well as up front through her left shoulder. That's a lot of things to be hurting, and so we have some more investigating to do. There are a few things we're checking before proceeding with any sort of injections. First, doc pulled blood to check for Lyme. It's VERY common here in CT ( it was named after the next town over) and frequently will cause soreness in multiple body parts. It can come and go too. Lyme is weird and presents weirdly. The second thing he's checking is her insulin levels. Being that she is part quarter horse, she is predisposed to have some metabolic issues. Hopefully those results will come in this week, so when doc is back Friday, we can proceed with any therapeutics she might need. The current plan is to inject with a biologic rather than a steroid. We'll do hocks and shoulder and hold off on the SI for now. Hypothesis is that the sore SI may be from favoring the hocks. As for the shoulder, that's something we've been thinking about doing for some time, but held off since we knew the neck was troublesome. I'm telling you, this inexpensive pony has turned kind of high maintenance... Good thing I love her so much! I just really want to get her comfortable again. She tries so hard, and I can tell she's struggling right now. Fingers crossed we can get her patched up this time. 

And now you're all caught up on our week! How are all of your equine doing? Any dramatics or are things going well? Or maybe both? It's usually both.