Ten Minutes!

   

We started our morning off with a farrier visit. And... Dan pulled a knife on him! Ha ha... Of course he did. We had him in the cross ties and he was making his usual snarky faces at Patrick and Patrick said something to the effect of "I'm tired of you chewing on me Dan". And then he turned to get something from his truck. Dan reached down and started nosing his farrier stand and right as Patrick turned back to him, Dan picked his head up with the hoof knife in his mouth and waved it around at Patrick. "I'll cut you!". Ha ha... Patrick was like "I think Dan just pulled a knife on me"!. Yep... doesn't surprise me. I swear he speaks English and can plot! Luckily the rest of the farrier visit was uneventful. And not just that, but... Dan's hematoma has almost grown out entirely. So I'm pretty sure that's why he was lame on that foot. Oh, and we finished in time to go to our vet appointment, because yet again... same day. In fact, Dan even got to go back out and eat some hay for a bit first. And luckily he seems to have chilled out on his guarding of Lyric. Thank goodness, because we were all getting annoyed with that, even Lyric. 

 

We got good news at our vet visit too. He trotted off "the soundest he's looked yet in his hind end". Which... maybe it's the fasciotomy, but maybe it's the two back and pelvis injections I've done since the last visit. :) Who knows!? And who cares?! He feels good so yay. He did mention that his muscling looked great and how impressed he was at how well he's compensating for the atrophy. He did say he thought the atrophy looked worse, but maybe it's just because the rest of his muscling and topline look so good. He did mention that it was odd because the infraspinatus isn't really responsible for bringing the limb forward. BUT.... I sort of thought it was?? So I don't know. I'm anxious to inject his shoulder girdle and see if that gives me any improvement in his tripping and slight shortness in the swing phase. A few more weeks though. But yes... a great check up and ultrasound and we got cleared to to bump up to 10 minutes of trot and are allowed to do some lateral work. So of course we headed straight to Ashland. 

 

We had planned smartly and met Sharon and Baylor there. It was a fun day. We did a long walk and then trotted a few little short stints on the trails with them. They were good together. We went through the big creek crossing and Dan was in the lead. He stopped at the bottom and literally looked back at Sharon and Baylor, lined himself up and then pawed and I kid you not... the water splash went straight onto Sharon's lap! It was perfectly aimed. We were cracking up. Daniel Floyd Breaux! Then he did it again! Stop it you heathen! ha ha... We carried on and did another trot through deer run. Then we ended up at the cross country field and Sharon let me and Dan do our water therapy. Then I still had four minutes of trot time left so we trotted in the field... and trotted a few logs. And somehow... I don't know what happened... but we landed in a canter a few times and once even cantered a few steps before we got to the log... so we accidentally did 11 minutes of trot and a minute of canter and a few jumps. ha ha. Ooops! Sharon was no help... she's an enabler. ;) She and Baylor had some good jumps too. I was so tempted to have a proper canter but... in due time, in due time. 

 

But ahhh, my soul needed that.

 

 

We ride! Hard work today

 Since Dan says no more lunging... we rode. 

 

We headed to Ashland. After a quick curry (SO MUCH HAIR!) we headed out. We walked to the water complex and after a bunch of circles at the walk, we did one circle each way at the trot. The big goober kept wanting to put his nose down and stretch, which was great.. but extra bouncy bareback and in the water. hee hee. I stayed on though! 

 

We the headed over a few logs and did the baby up bank. Then we snacked a bit. Then we did our two 2 minute trots in the grassy fields. He was tripping a LOT today though. Like... tripping hard up front a lot. But we survived. It was a great ride. I even played with lateral work on the edges of the hayfield. He was super!

 

I was hoping to have time to inject him today because then he can have the few days off while I'm in Ocala with Lyric. BUT... it was a few days early... and I didn't want to inject him too early.. (although I'm not sure a few days would make a difference) and I wasn't sure if I should do his back and pelvis again or go to his scapula now... So by the time I sort of thought it through, it was too late. So instead... I gave Lyric a bath. Which I also needed to do. But now... way later.. I'm kicking myself for not injecting him. I can't do it Thursday morning (3 weeks on the dot) because it's goign to be freezing cold! So.. that means he can't get his "rest days" when I'm gone. Sigh... I suppose I could do it Saturday when I get home, and give him Sun, Mon and tues off. But... Tuesday is supposed to be beautiful. And then Thursday we have our recheck for his suspensories. So... I guess I'll do it Saturday when I get back and just not ride him on Tuesday. 

 

 

Game Over

 

 Whelp.... no more lunging for Dan. Even with the chain, he said NOPE. He doesn't even have to grab it in his mouth anymore.. he just... turns and goes. Sir!!! He was spicy today. We did our pillar work for a little bit and did some leg yielding in hand and then went to do our trot. He picked up the trot before I even asked and pretty much trotted the whole 5 minutes straight. We even trotted the ground pole a few times. So then when I asked him to go the other way.. he was like "enough of this peasant.. I'm bored" and just... took off. He ran around a bit and then I decided... okay, I agree. Lunging is boring. Let's play tag. He looked at me like I had lost my mind at first... but then you could see his wheels turning... he was intrigued! So I walked up to him and he let me.. then I fed him a cookie and then showed him another and ran off. And he figured it out and followed me. We did that a few more times with the last 4 cookies and then we had to call it quits. But... I think he had fun. And... me!? Oh I had fun. And my little heart is thrilled that he seems to be feeling so good and is so happy! Yes.. he still is snarly at dinner.. when I blanket him... when he's eating his hay.. but he was snuggly and cuddly today! And it's been slowly making itself evident these last few weeks or so. Is it the chinese herbs? The lack of pain? His suspensaries are happy? The hematoma is resolved and not painful? Because I treated his back? I don't know...and I don't care. Maybe all of the things! 

 

He hung out at the gate after I left and then finally came cantering back up to snuggle while I was snuggling with the girls. 

    

I guess we'll go for a trail ride Tuesday and do our 5 minutes of under saddle trot and then come home and treat his shoulder. Then he'll get Wednesday off because I work.. and then I'll be gone to Ocala with Lyric Thursday through Saturday. So hopefully on Sunday I can do a bit more lunging (if he'll tolerate it) or just go back to work under saddle even if it's bareback. 

I'm so grateful to God for all the lessons He (and Dan) has taught me. I hate that poor Dan had to pay the price, but I am grateful. And, I'm pretty optimistic that Dan and I can have a fun rest of his life together... even if we just fart around in the arena and on the trails... maybe we can do some Western dressage, or working equitation, or competitive trail, or foxhunting... or maybe, just maybe, we can even get back to eventing and dressaging?? I don't know. But I do know that I'm having fun with him right now, even doing "nothing" and I'm so glad that God has given that back to me. Because that was not even a given for a long time.