Rehab Ride at Home

 Good grief, where did the day go?! 

 

I decided for the sake of time and fuel, I'd ride Dan at home today. So I hopped on him bareback (no pad even) and we walked the pasture. We did the little hills and did some leg yielding. I also tried a few steps of turn on the haunches, and his tongue came out. Sigh... But turn on the forehand was okay. And so was a teeny turn on the haunches. Sigh... I don't know. I don't know if it's the position his neck takes for the turn on the haunches, if it's his stifle, or his hind end or what? Sigh... I'm beginning to wonder if I'm ever going to be able to do more than just fart around on him. And that makes me so sad, for so many reasons. I don't want him to hurt... but I also don't want him to get bumped off the roster because if he's not doing "important" things and as the girls start doing more, I'm afraid he'll get bumped. Sigh... and I LOVE riding him.

  

* Dan your unicorn is showing!*

But I guess we'll just keep seeing what happens. I'm trying to give it to God. And we did have some beautiful views this afternoon while we rode.

 

After our ride I did acupuncture. I did 12 magicals and just did the shu stream points, which is good imaging for his neck. He had major ah shi points on his TH meridian so next week I might try attacking the TH again. I also did electro in his shoulder again. And, it was promising because I actually saw more movement there than I remember. And then I went ahead and did some pneumoacupuncture again too. But I only had a 12 cc syringe so... we spent forever and never really got him fully inflated. Doh. ;) He was a pretty good boy though. 

 

Now that he's off stall rest and the holidays are essentially over, I can hopefully get back on track with doing his treatments... acupuncture, electro, pneumo, massage, PT, etc. 

 

 

 

Boxing Day

 Today was A DAY! Good gravy!

 

I had a migraine last night and didn't sleep great. Then I had to get up early because they were coming to fix my windshield. So I got up at 730 to be ready for a potential 8 am arrival. They called at 8:15 or so and said they'd be there around 9:30. Perfect... so then I messaged Kelli because we were supposed to meet here and ride and do bridle and bit fittings and adjust/acupuncture/shockwave marvin... and she said she wasn't feeling great, her husband wasn't leaving for out of town yet, etc, etc... So I mentioned that we could ride at Ashland instead if she could be flexible. So we made plans... My plan was to ride Funny when the windshield people arrived because it said 1-1.5 hrs... Well, then when he arrived.. he said 45 min to an hour. So that sort of made it too tight to fit in a ride. So Kelli and I recalibrated. Then Mike wanted me to take him to pick up his Mustang... but then told me I could drive him later tonight and he would just leave his car there. So phew for that! So I caught up on some things in the house. Then the windshield called me out there and basically... they broke my car. Ha! In the process of replacing the windshield they broke a piece on the frame that required a bodywork shop to fix. Which, to their credit, will NOT cost me anything else. BUT... that meant a delay... they had to tow my car to the body shop... it took awhile to figure out... Good grief! So Kelli and I tried to recalibrate yet again. I was able to leave while the guy was finishing up and prepping my car for towing... so I hopped on Funny. Then luckily, we were almost done but still at the arena when the tow truck came and he didn't need me. So we watched Pistol get towed away as he drove by past the arena. Then, I got her untacked and had just enough time to make some yogurt before grabbing Dan to head to Ashland. 

 

At this point I was pulling in when I was supposed to be starting our ride... but oh well. I got there and Kelli had Marvin at the trailer still tacked up. I told her that we could go hack if she wanted, or if she was tired of waiting I could adjust him and then go ride while she went home. She said he felt so awful she barely rode, so... rather than make him continue to feel awful on the trails, or have her walk the whole way... we just adjusted Marvin first. Dan hung out and ate hay. He was a good boy. I left nothing but the hay in his reach. ;) After he ate my phone yesterday!

After I had finished up with Marvin I did a quick groom and threw the bareback pad on and Dan and I were off!

 

We had a nice ride. COLD but nice. There was a small rain storm that blew in after we got home and it brought a chill to our ride. It was COLD! And a gray day. But we had a good ride. Lots of snacking. Ha ha. But we did some leg yields a few steps here and there and even a few steps of shoulder in and haunches in. We also found some logs to step over. He was cheating in the beginning and stepping over with his left front first, so that his right front just kind of followed. But by the end of our ride, I managed to get him to step over with his right front first. We also ended up in the water complex and did two circles each direction and then marched straight up the hill! 

 

Good pony! Ahhh, I'm so grateful to be back on him! I think he's happier too!

It's Christmas!

 Christmas!! 

 

The ponies got candy canes for breakfast this morning. With breakfast.. ha ha.. they still got their regular feed. But we snacked on candy canes first! They loved it. After they got their breakfast, Mike and I did Christmas! And ate beignets! Yum! 

  

After the festivities were over, I went out to drag the arena, spread manure, pick the pastures, and fix the water troughs. And it was warming up, so the ponies got naked time! They were silly and running amock! But... Dan looked mostly sound! Although I did see a few steps here and there. But at least he was playing again. Thank you God! And Happy Birthday Jesus!

After I finished that, I rode Lyric. And then, it was Dan's turn. We loaded up and headed to Ashland and met Kelli and Marvin. We headed out for our Christmas hack! We had to stop at the lake and Dan splashed with his right front a good bit. Yay! Good boy. Probably kind of chilly though. ;) 

 

So then we walked around and took pictures at the Christmas tree. I tried to get one of the two of them together but Dan kept pinning his ears at Marvin! He was in a feisty mood today. Although when we first started out, he literally walked up to Marvin and practically licked his shoulder and neck. Weirdo! We had a nice hack though. I only cheated by like... 5 minutes this time!

 

It was a good Christmas!