Big Day!

Gracious!! Poor Danimal. He was so good today!

So.... I got up early and got him fed and let him eat some hay. Then I adjusted him. Then just as I was finishing Freddie showed up and gave him his pedicure. We decided to try him without the wedges today to see if it would help the funkyness I'm feeling. And Freddie watched him go (barefoot) and thought it looked like stifle too.  He also said that he's been bearing more weight on his left hind the last cycle or two. And then we talked about how wedges will sometimes hide stuff, so perhaps it was a good idea to leave the wedges off so we could really evaluate him at his vet appointment today. So we did. Danny was typical Danny.. fidgety.  But not bad. 

So then I let him have a few more minutes with his hay while I went back inside and grabbed a few things. Then we hauled over to Ashland. (Oh, my truck is STILL in the shop, so I went to Liz's yesterday and borrowed her truck and trailer. Bless her!). So we hauled to Ashland and I only had a hour before we had to leave for Canton, so.. we put in a super quick dressage school and a quick trot to the lake and back. Dan felt funky for the first lap but then he actually felt more symmetric to me. He felt looser, but more symmetric. So... ??? Who knows. We played around a bit with the counter canter 3 loop, tear drop, some simple changes, some leg yield and some shoulder in. Oh, and some lengthenings. He was great!. Then we went and splashed in the lake for a minute and trotted back home. 


Then we hauled to Canton for his vet appointment. And poor guy. He's too long for the slant load, despite it being an extra long... So there wasn't room for his hay net! So... he was a good boy and just hung out the whole long miserable ride to Canton. Basically.. Dr. Molony thought it was right stifle. We blocked it medially and no real change. Then we blocked it laterally and he actually looked lame on the left hind. Sigh... But his right hind was reaching and seemed more comfortable. So then we ultrasounded the stifle and nothing looked alarming. Although we're going to relook next visit as since we had blocked it, it was a little hard to see. So.. the plan is to leave the wedges off for a cycle and see, give him some bute in the meantime, and then, when his blocks wear off, we'll IRAP his stifles. But we'll do both medial and lateral on both stifles. When we injected his stifle back in January, we only did the medial side, which is hopefully why he didn't respond very long. And before we IRAP, we'll ultrasound again to make sure. We also x-rayed his left hind, which looked way better than his right hind did even a year ago. So hopefully it's just compensation. So.. that's the plan. 

Which means.... I can show! Not this weekend, because I don't have a truck, but... next weekend at Stableview.. and then also at Windridge, which will be my last chance to qualify for AEC's (well, I guess I've got Full Gallop too). Which... not really sure I can afford all of this, but... freakin' A.... I've worked so hard for it... or at least ran in circles and attempted to accomplish this... So we'll see. 

Danny was funny at the vet. Of course. He was his usual goofy weird self. Not a bad boy.. just annoying. ;) They love him though.

Then we came home and I let him pee and then hosed him off because he was so sweaty from the sedation and the trailer ride. He was sooooo hungry (again, no hay while on the trailer) that he was eating hay and NOT EVEN ROLLING YET!!! Wow!! I fed him dinner and tossed another flake of O/A in his stall while I cleaned out Liz's trailer and then moved it out of the pasture so he didn't chew on it. By the time I finished that, he had snarfed up that whole flake of hay! I turned him out and he ate for a few more minutes of the oat hay before he finally rolled in the dirt. Gracious! That was a hungry pony!

So.. fingers crossed!!!