Well.... still "bent"

 Well.. as Cindy says.. he's "bent" but maybe not broken. Although I'm starting to wonder. 

I had to work Tuesday so that we could go to the beach this weekend and Mon and Tues, but.... stupid rain. It's supposed to rain Sunday afternoon and all day Monday. Which, with them being stuck in stalls vs the paddock... meh. Dan's gonna get very angry if he is only ridden once Sat, once Sun, not at all Monday and is stuck in a stall the whole time. Plus it's expensive now that we have to pay $75/night for a stall and basically the same for a hotel/house. So, we decided not to go. Especially with him still feeling not quite right... But we didn't know that until today so.. I worked Mon, Tues, and Wed, so no riding until today. 

So... I took him off previcox Sunday night... and then yesterday morning I started him on bute. I did 2 grams am and 2 grams pm and then 2 grams again this morning. I decided NOT to do the sucralfate because that way I could know for sure it's the bute vs... maybe the sucralfate. So, I fed him at 8:45 ish.. and was on at 10:30ish I think... So it might have been pushing it but... he still felt the same. I did the same warm up as we did in our lesson, well, minus the 45 min trail ride first! We walked.. we did turn on the haunches and then we did the stretchy figure 8 trots. He felt pretty decent. Then we did shoulder fore and a tiny bit of half pass and leg yield. And again.. he felt pretty good though I did still feel some rooting/inconsistency in the contact and he felt like he wanted to stay crooked/bent at the wither base vs stright in the right rein when we were tracking left. Like.. I wanted to half halt that outside rein a LOT and close my outside leg A LOT to try to straighten his right side. We did a little bit of leg yielding too and honestly, he felt pretty good overall for all of that. 

Sigh... so let's try cantering and see! The right lead canter felt good. But it always did. So then we did the left. It started out okay and I was fairly hopeful. I mean, he inverted in the upward, but he's done that for ... well, basically ...ever, so... okay. But then he fell out of it. Okay... let's try again. He braced into again and then felt more crooked. He's not bending around my inside leg but instead bending in half. Like he's bending at his wither base and is straight in his neck and straight in his back. I tried to really get him to move his barrel or even his haunches to the outside to help straighten him and it made him mad. Yeah... I agree. Sorry buddy. My fault. Then I tried the outside rein half halts, which helped and he went rounder and more correct but.. he kept falling back ot his "bent in half" feeling. And, sure enough, almost every time I tried to go down the long side, he would break. It was like.. if he's not super bent on a circle and I touch the outside rein at all, he breaks. Or swaps. And he doesn't do a hunter change, so.. that's not it. Sigh. So we went back to the trot and he felt okay still. Then I tried the canter again and he struggled again so I quit. I tried a turn on the forehand both ways and when I tried it ... oh, i think sending his haunches to the right, I saw his tongue come out. It was quick. And I don't know if it was because of the turn on the haunches in general, that particular direction, or just... fatigue from all of it. So... we quit. I got off and walked him home. 

 

He's also had some frothy snot/nasal discharge the last few days but... so has Funny. I'm thinking that's just allergies and unrelated. He's still pretty gassy.. perhaps a little bit from the turmeric. 

So yeah... Tomorrow I'll take him to Ashland (hopefully) and give him the double dose bute AND sucralfate and see if that makes a difference. But at this point... WHY!?? If it were pain, wouldn't the bute be enough? Is it nerve pain again? I did break down and order a shockwave. I'm a little frustrated that I couldn't get someone to come shock him first to see if it made a difference but I did want to do it for my practice anyways.. I have other patients that will benefit from it. Maybe it's his saddles? Maybe it's me creating crookedness?? Maybe it's ??? I have no idea... his stifle? His feet? He does seem a bit less draggy since we added the pour in pads but is it because I put on spurs the last two rides?? 

On the plus side.. I did get Pivo working. If I put it in the middle of the arena it does a pretty good job of following me, so yay for that!

Monday night I opened up the dog field for them. Shenanigans ensued. Although interestingly enough.. mostly by the redheads. Dan was fairly well behaved. 

Ugh.. see, he's bracing! At least he wasn't doing it the whole time. It was better in the canter than the trot. 

And.. sunset!