Well... I couldn't wait until Feb 16th so I called Dr. Barrow and they had an opening. So I hauled Dan and Lyric both over there. We had a little bit of a wait so they hung out happily in the trailer. Once they were in the barn though... chaos ensued. Like usual. :) Lyric was actually pretty good this time! Dan was not. We did Lyric first because I figured she'd be simpler. She was a bit fussy in the cross tie but then settled quite nicely and wasn't even screaming while we hung out and waited. Dan was in a stall next to the cross ties and spent the entire time with his neck raised as high as he could so he could stick his nose over the gate. Not helping your neck dude!!! And he was pawing the gate too. He screamed the whole time we took her out to jog her. When we came back in I noticed that there was a strip of plastic lining the stall wall that was half hanging down. Ooops!! I apologized but Emily was like "No, he's innocent.. that was already like that!". I replied with "Oh phew, but.. he's still not innocent"!. ha ha.
So anyways, we got Lyric squared away (luckily just growing pains) and then it was Dan's turn. Since he's such a nerd to lunge, I showed her the video. She thought it was the left front so she pulled him out and put him in the cross ties. She palpated the lower limb and he was wiggly but not terrible. Then she started to manipulate the shoulder and he got MAD! Like... sort of slung her around mad. Oops! I apologized and told her he was kind of like that. So she went to the other side and he was fine. Okay... noted! So... she said she thought it was neck.. not shoulder. And yeah.. I agree. We KNOW that the lower cervicals are awful. So I asked if steroids would help quiet it down, better than alpha2 since ... it's just been November that we did the alpha 2's. She said she likes to alternate her injections that way... .steroids, then biologics, then steroids, etc. So, okay... we're on the same page. It's been a struggle. I"m okay with giving the steroids a shot. I mean.... we KNOW he's already screwed there anyways... But Dr. Barrow said she wasn't real comfortable injecting lower cervicals. Fair enough. That's... a really tough spot. I'm not touching it either! So.... I appreciate that and... now just need to decide what to do.
So... we headed home... I turned them out... and.. was sad. It's my birthday. That's not great news. Not awful news, but not great news. The weather was sucky but... actually not raining. And the weather forecast showed rained for the next 4 or 5 days, so... screw it! I'm taking him for a ride. Yes, I know he's sore... Yes, he's still "lame", but... dangit, it's my birthday! Let's just go hack.
So... we loaded up and headed to Ashland. I put his western headstall on and the bareback pad and we headed out. It was a hair chilly but not too bad. We weren't the only ones out there but we never ran into anyone on the trails. We just hacked around. He was motoring but was happy. I did try to trot a few times to see how he felt and he kept stopping, but I really think it was to get grass. Ha ha. Once I trotted him in the woods, he trotted happily. And actually felt pretty sound, but... it was straight lines. So then when we got to the sandy path next to the creek... I asked for a canter. I had my phone in my hand and was bareback... and he cantered off. And then he sort of took off. He wasn't bolting... and he wasn't galloping... but he was motoring!! Okay dude!! I'm bareback...and one handed... with your rubber snaffle bit! Hee hee. He felt a little squirrely but I couldn't tell if it was him swapping because of terrain or he was slip sliding a little bit or what. Oh but my soul needed that. His too I think! We had fun.
We walked the rest of the way back to the XC field and I let him snack a little more. I asked for another canter and he gave me a very polite short one... and then wanted to snack. Fair enough dude. We headed back in, said hi to Jacel (sad we were missing our lesson) and then headed home.
Thanks for giving me a fun ride for my birthday dude. I love you too!
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