Today was a weird day. But a good one. Steaming hot though!! Ugh. I woke up super early and fed ponies and took Funny to the cavaletti clinic. Then when I got home, I turned her out, made a hot dog and then grabbed Dan.
We headed to Ashland to meet Kelli for a quick ride before our vet appt. It was so hot, but we knew we weren't going to be riding long. I almost went bareback, but... wanted to check my saddle fit again and the fit of my new breastcollar. I got there a hair earlier than Kelli and put my saddle on. It's definitely a hair too wide but otherwise it fits well. And with the shim pad, it seems to fit pretty darn good. I also made sure I was placing it properly again. I watched a video yesterday and it was saying to make sure that the conchos (tree points) were just behind the edge of the scapula. So, that's what I did today. It's definitely a hair farther back than what I had been doing more recently, but he seemed happy and with the shims, it seemed to fit well. But the breastcollar is way too tight. I mean.. it fits, but it's super snug. And on the last holes. I might be able to figure out how to make it work if I swap out the tugs, but I'm not sure that the chest piece is going to be long enough even with longer tugs. Ugh... why is it so hard to get western tack to fit him??? And match?!!
Anyways... we went for a short hack. We just walked to the lake and back. He didn't spend too much time in the lake because Anna was there walking her dogs and he was intrigued. But it was fine because we were short on time anyways. We walked back and then headed to the arena for Kelli to do her two minutes of trot (rehabbing). I figured I'd play a little bit too. Plus I wanted to practice the turn on the forehand for the show next weekend. And he was pretty good. He felt nice at the trot and our turn on the forehands were decent! Especially since you do it with their nose on the rail. His leg yields sucked today though. He was bracing. And my hands are apparently very high, which.. might be why he's bracing!?? We didn't have much time, so we didn't do a ton. But we did get in some canter too. I tried a lengthen on the right lead and he swapped behind. So... nope, not ready for 1-3 in Western Dressage yet. But we got some nice canters otherwise.
He got hosed off and then we loaded up and headed to our vet appointment. He was just getting his feet x-rayed to see how his angles were and how much sole he had. Because, while I do think the reluctance to walk on the trails and feeling icky are more related to stifle fatigue... I do also know he is tender on the rocks, so... I wanted to see. I also wondered if his angles were off or good, because maybe if we helped his angles, we could help his stifle. So... off we went. Kelli called after we left Ashland to chat more and then another friend called and then texted that she was behind me and my trailer latch wasn't shut properly. I know.. it's bent! But thanks for letting me know just in case. :) And the photo of Dan's butt!
We got there and the girls told me that Dr. Connolly got called out on an emergency but they would happily take the foot rads. No problem. It meant *I* kind of got to play vet. Ha ha. They did a great job and they good got rads. And... His front feet aren't bad, but... he's a bit broken back at his fetlock angle. I'm not sure if he needs wedges?? He's got enough sole that we could maybe trim it up better. It's not bad, but.. not perfect. And then his hinds look pretty decent except he doesn't have much sole depth. BUT... Kim just posted about using shock wave to increase sole depth and funny enough... she was behind me today when Funny and I left High Point and called me and told me to pull over. She had a 20 mm trode with her she was going to let me use for a bit. And, he conveniently gets his shockwave tomorrow, so.. I might as well go ahead and shockwave his coronary bands too tomorrow to see if it helps his sole depth. Anyways... I ended up having the girls take stifle rads too. Because we had only x-rayed his left one last visit, and... the noltrex really didn't seem to help his right stifle this go round. And.. they aren't great. I mean, they took good rads but his stifle isn't great. There's definitely less joint space and more arthritic edges. Bummer. But, they did have a bottle of osphos handy that they sold me. She was super nice and gave it to me almost at cost. So I'll skip his previcox for the next 6 days and give him the osphos in 3 days. And maybe, that will kick in before we see Dr. Barrow on the 24th and get reassessed.
Anyways.. after that we headed out to the trailer and then Mary Stuart asked me a question and we ended up talking for a good 15 minutes and Dan was just grazing and then just standing there hanging out quietly. Like.. he wouldn't even load up, he was just happy to stand there and chill. Good pony. Weird.. but good pony. :) I do adore him and his weird little self.
So... then I forgot to shockwave him tonight and ended up riding Lyric after the storm, so.. shockwave tomorrow!
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