God is so good. I'm so grateful He put Jacel into my life!
Today was lesson day and she was so kind to be willing to teach me at Ashland and then on her way home, stop and teach me on a second horse at the farm. I opted to ride Dan because Funny was still out as I hadn't had a chance to adjust her and shockwave her yet. And I'm so glad I did because Jacel is brilliant!
I told her what happened at the groundpole clinic and how I was a little disheartened because of hormones. And that I was starting to question whether I should just turn him out for 6 months because I was afraid that maybe I was encouraging him to use the wrong muscles because... how can he use his scapular muscles. I told her that even if we didn't do much of a "lesson" I still wanted her opinion on him and her thoughts. And Dan was so happy to see her too!
Before she got there I had done some pillar walking and then some walking around on a loose rein to warm up. So after we talked she watched him walk. He was acting like his hind end was stuck leaving the shady spot but once he got going, he was okay. He was a bit of a slug. So then she had us trot three loop serpentines and watched. She noted a few things. Then she had me do trot to halt to trot transitions. And then we talked.
Basically her take was that he looked pretty good overall but weak. She thought that he had an easier time on a nice training level/beginner first level frame vs when I let him have his head and stretch. He was lifting his tail and tracking up and over. He was occasionally dropping his right hip slightly more than his left and occasionally would drag his right hind toe but not consistently. She did see him occasionally not get his right front moving and out of the way. She explained that the reason she asked for the trot halt trot transitions was based on what she learned from Faith. (Faith is her daughter who has had 4 brain surgeries!). She explained that her understanding of neurology and nerve involvement made her think that by asking Dan to do rapid fire transitions... quick transitions... was going to stimulate his neural pathways quicker and more effectively than anything else. She said that when you toss a baby up in the air, you're actually stimulating their nerves to move faster and it's been proven that those kids develop faster as a general rule. Okay... I can get that... neuroplasticity and such. We talked through it and decided that... basically.. .he's starting completely over. We cut through his scar tissue... so he no longer has that holding him together. We took away his pain (hopefully and in theory) so he can now use himself effectively and correctly. But he's not been doing that, so he's weak. And all things that I knew and others had mentioned, but... instead of focusing so much on rehabbing the scapula and building muscle and encouraging stretch and reach... perhaps, we focus on his nerves being rebuilt. Because quite frankly, if we focus on getting him to accomplish the same thing without the scapula muscle to be able to do it, we're just teaching him to compensate. And... while we may have to resort to that... ideally, we teach him how to sit and use his hind end and carry his front end more biomechanically correct... and train his brain and nervous system to try to stimulate those nerves to regrow/heal because that... will help him stay more correct. And once the nerves are working, those muscles will rebuild. It's not so much muscle he needs as... correct work. Okay.. makes sense to me. I was starting to notice that the bulge behind his scapula is getting way bigger. Sigh.. I don't want that. That's not correct. And by encouraging a stretch, that isn't done by the proper muscles... I'm inadvertently teaching him to keep pulling himself along... instead of asking him to sit and push.
So... we did 4 minutes of trot to halt to trot each way. And it was freakin' brilliant!!! Dan was HAPPY!! There was no tongue coming out. He was enjoying himself and Jacel said his eye got soft. His tail lifted. And he suddenly (without me having to manipulate him) got straight in his neck, straight out from his withers. He got softer in his barrel and more supple. He got rounder and lifted his back and got swingy. And he got sounder! And more responsive to my aids. And it was easier for him to trot. I didn't have to kick every stride. He got even in the rein contact and had a nice soft connection. It was lovely!
So.. that's the new plan for a bit. For the next week or two... I'm going to do arena work and do 5 minutes of trot halt trots each way and then build on it. And I can still go for hacks and I can still do the water treadmill, but I will focus on this. And I think this will help train his brain and bring back his muscle memory. And then we'll go from there!
So yay! My heart is happy again! And Dan is happy again. And you know... he really tries. He really really tries his big ol' heart out for me. Even when it hurts or he's unhappy. And yes, sometimes you have to grit your teeth and tough out some not fun parts, but... if I can be effective while keeping him comfortable and happy and not take advantage of his willingness, why wouldn't I?! And (at least right now in my brain) I do think this plan will be effective. I do think I can retrain his brain and body and then... the shoulder muscles will eventually fill in.
Good pony!
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