Long Trail ride

 Maybe i'm a terrible mom... he should be resting and rehabbing.. and maybe this is why he doesn't ever heal. But he's also out cantering around in the field and acting very much like he wants to work. But... maybe this was too long. he got tired 3/4 of the way through. 

but still a lovely ride. went to dauset trails with linda and sharon. Quite nice. really good parking. easy to get to. only 45 min away. lovely trails. a bit slick after the rain because of the clay base but not deep. dan slid some but he's also not the most surefooted especially with all his issues. lots of zigzag spaghetti noodles ;) but not much terrain. one or two tiny short hills and mostly flat with occasional very gradual uphill or dowhill. Great views. And apparently the Georgia groundhog who predicts spring lives here. We passed his farm. But didn't see him.

They were nice and let Dan lead most of the way. Baylor was starting to creep up at the end, since dan was getting tired, so we let him lead. And about 3 or 4 times Dan did the briefest of shenanigans. Never more than a step or two and very subtle for him, but he is still trying. Guess he still hurts enough to not try harder. Darn... kinda makes me feel worse, but... also... he freakin' wants to be out on the trails doing things. He never said no and never tried to stop. he just... slowed down up the small hills and at the end. But yeah, maybe 5.2 miles was a bit much. Even walk only. But I think he was glad he did it. We both had fun. hopefully it won't bite us in the butt. 

photos: 11-26 dauset trails

Short Trail ride

 short hack at Charlie Elliott

aramadillo, drunken walking out, still lame, straight and happy way back.

photos: 10-26 ce ride

videos

Good Aim! Bad Boy!

 Daniel Floyd Breaux! You were so naughty today! And it hurt!!!

 

Unfortunately I ran out of time to ride him today. Well, technically I guess I could have. But I opted to take a bike ride with Mike instead and not have a 9pm dinner. And I had the saddle fitter come, so that took up some of the day. But it was okay. Except for the fact that Dan took offense. Sigh...

I was expecting the saddle fitter at 4 pm and was about to fetch ponies when she texted that she would be there at 4:30. No problem. Except I got distracted by working on Funny's halloween costume and she was a hair early. They were right outside their stalls eating hay around 4:10, but... by 4:30 they were up by Fleck's grave. Ooops, I'm so sorry!!! I caught them easily and then I put Funny in a stall so we could do Dan first. Because heaven forbid he has to stay in a stall for more than a minute if it doesn't suit him! 

I put him in the cross ties and told the fitter that I wanted to double check his western saddle. Just to make sure. I figured the neck atrophy was highly likely secondary to his stifles or neck issues vs the saddle, but.. you never know. Plus, when Mark fitted the saddle, Dan was such a twit and wouldn't stand still and was being even more ridiculous than usual, so we didn't really get a good read on it. So anyways, the fitter does western too so she could check his. So while I was telling her all these things, Dan was making ugly faces and being his usual awful self in the cross ties. And then he grabbed the tie in his mouth and yanked on it. A few times. And the last time, it broke the hay string and ricocheted off the wall, right onto my skull! OUCH! That seriously hurt dude! I had a big knot forming as soon as it happened. I was so pissed I just apologized to the fitter and slapped him hard across the face with the lead rope. Twice. Because dammit Dan just effing stand still for ten minutes. That's all I'm asking. Just stop being so dang awful and rude. I'm over it! I felt bad for being so upset with him but for the love... just act like a normal horse that knows how to stand tied and stop being so distructive. Ugh... 

Anyways... after that he mostly behaved himself but he was still making ugly faces. He quit chewing on the cross ties though. For now at least. We put the saddle on and I showed her where I was placing it. She said it was too far back. Okay... maybe that's my problem. And that might explain why my stirrups feel so far back. She did also show me that I could pull my stirrups more forward. Ahhh!! Magical. I had sort of tried but never really accomplished it. But when we set the saddle on the ground it opened the area up enough that I was able to slide them forward a good half inch. Nice! So anyways... she suggested that I slide it forward a good bit. Instead of having the back of his scapula hit the concho, I should have the back of his scapula hit the tree point. Which is where the screw is. And my buckroll incidentally. So, I may have misheard Mark. He did say the tree point but I thought he said the concho was my tree point location. So... anyways... she felt like it fit great once I slid it more forward. 

Then we looked at my pads. She was not a fan of the toklat ones and said she felt like the hard rigid western saddle trees sort of need the thicker wool pads. So we put my western thick pad on and she pulled it more forward. (So the flaps of the front of the saddle are overlapping the shoulder a little bit) and said that the wither cutout should in fact be at the wither. Ha ha. I KNEW IT! Ha ha. Doh. And I should have the same amount of space in front of the saddle as behind the saddle, on the pad. But she liked how it fit him.

So yay! I'll just try using the western pad only for a bit, which is nice now that it's not so hot and humid and it won't get so gross. (especially since we'll be walking only for a bit). And I'll pull my saddle more forward and now my stirrups should be more forward too, so we'll see how that feels. Hopefully I can sneak in a ride tomorrow. It's the Ashland show but I don't ride til 3:30 with Funny, so I may see if I can sneak him over there for a quick trail ride tomorrow. Or maybe I"ll just go to Charlie Elliot. Even if we don't do the whole 6 miles, we can go 1.5 miles in and 1.5 miles back out or something. I may actually do just that. Because if we go to Ashland, he'll need a costume! And if I had planned ahead enough, I'd totally do just that... take him for the costume contest. But, I didn't plan ahead and it's too late now to come up with something, so.. maybe we'll do CE. 

Anyways... my head still hurts and the lump is still there and my cross tie is still broken, but... I've mostly forgiven him. I do think I'm going to have to go back to zero tolerance again. It's just exhausting. 

A magical day

 Dan and I headed out to Ashland today to enjoy this gorgeous weather and the woods. It was a glorious day. Deliciously chilly enough that I had on long sleeves and a thin fleece pullover. But it was sunny and the sun warmed my soul (instead of scorching me!). And we were only walking, so no sweating. Well, Dan sweated a tiny bit. 

   

We tacked up and just headed out. I let him choose mostly. We ended up going across the small dam and then down into Down Under. It's so pretty there. Except he almost lost it before we hit down under. He was snacking on some grass just before we hit Down Under and they have the big stack of wood ready to replace the bridge in the corner of the pasture. I guess he didn't notice it and when I finally got his head out of the grass to move along, he saw it and spun and almost bolted. Whoa dude!!! Ha ha. Luckily he stopped and turned and stared and let me talk him down. And then he felt silly for being so spooky. ;) 

   

Then we headed up to the cowpens. Sadly, they chopped down or moved the awesome jump. Not that Dan and I would have jumped it, but... it made me glad that I had done it on Funny already! Then we went past the hay fields and into the fire swamp. Then from there we headed across the dam. And we scared up the pterydactyl. Twice. But Dan didn't mind. He didn't want to swim or splash today. Which wasn't a bad thing. Especially because pawing in the water probably isn't good for his shoulder at the moment. We headed back up alongside cross country and headed in. 

 

He felt pretty good. At the end he maybe got a little fatigued and just felt... a little neuro almost. Maybe a little weak in the right hind.. maybe a combination of all the things. But it makes sense if his left front is sore and his right hind is sore.. that he'd feel a little wonky. And it was only briefly at the end but then he worked out of it again. I was tempted to trot and see how he felt, but I didn't. 

  

When we untacked I did feel like his saddle was smooshing down on his traps. I wonder if I should switch to riding in the big felt pad for a bit and see if that makes a difference. I did also put in a text to Nancy to have her come check Funny's saddles and was hoping she could check Dan's too. I think I remember her saying she did western saddles too. His neck just looks so awful sometimes. And his topline is definitely getting worse again. 

   

But we had a good ride and enjoyed each others company and the lovely weather and lovely views. 

Tonight at dinner I got mad at him though because he was just slamming his teeth on the bars again. I think I hurt his feelings because later when I went to blankets on the girls, I didn't bring any treats because I was tired of getting mobbed. And it's kind of dangerous when I'm trying to blanket them and he keeps coming over and butting in thinking I have treats and trying to chase them off. He kept his distance but then once they were blanketed and I was snuggling with Funny and taking full moon photos, he came up and started "smiling" for me in an attempt to get a cookie! Awwww... smart boy. And you're super cute. But I don't have any cookies. But we snuggled a little bit. He's still Dan though and grumped a little bit. But enjoyed his ear rub. 

PHEW!! Crisis averted

 I was a bit terrified what our vet appointment would hold today. I was half convinced that Dan had torn his meniscus. Or just... totally destroyed his stifle. But I also didn't want to assume that it was the problem when it was something else aggravating him. Because, while I know his stifle is awful.. it's been awful and he copes. So the fact that he was acutely lame.... 

Anyways... we got to the clinic right on time and I unloaded him. He came off the trailer READY TO BOLT!! He was shaking, heart pounding, and neck straight up like a giraffe. What on earth dude? It was a barking dog, but... so what?! Well.. there was something that was spooking him that he couldn't find, but then he was also spooking at the horse skeleton. Mind you, he saw it last year too. He was all bowed up and I almost lost him one time as he tried to go the other way and drug me a bit. Luckily I had the rope halter on and was able to reel him back in. I then bribed him with a cookie and sweet talk and we walked up to "skelly". Oh... it's just a fake horse... Dan sniffed noses with him and then decided he was harmless and then he was fine. good gravy!

Dr Barrow watched him go and watched my short video and said it was left front. But then on a circle she also saw the right hind. She said that the right hind didn't look any worse than usual but the left front was dramatic. He didn't want to bring it forward and had a shortened cranial phase. On palpation he was quite cranky over the point of his shoulder, at the bursa, and also at his neck base. And when she palpated his tendon, he was flinchy midway down his cannon bone at the flexors. She tried to flex him but he was a very unhappy pony for his fetlock and jogged off VERY lame. He was a bit lame for the shoulder flexion but not as bad. 

So we ultrasounded his shoulder. No tears or lesions but a big bruised muscle over the point of the shoulder and a teeny little lesion in the insertion tendon of the biceps brachii. Then we ultrasounded his tendons. His deep and superficial flexors looked good. His suspensory looked good. But his check ligament was a bit angry. No lesion. Just angry. And right where he was palpating sore. Then we x-rayed his fetlock. Just one lateral but it was rather beautiful. Phew! 

So... the diagnosis is that it was likely that was the limb that got hung in the fence and was essentially the pivot point creating the twist and flip, so he likely tweaked the tar out of that whole leg! The plan is to rest him and shockwave the shoulder and he should heal up fine. I did ask if I could do some rides, and she said walk trail rides would be fine but avoid trotting. So yay! We'll get to do our walk trail rides until my surgery and then he can rest even more and then we'll revisit and see if we need to inject the stifle again or anything else and hopefully he'll make another comeback. :) Phew!

I'm so glad that's all it was! Now if I can just keep him from doing anything else dumb!!

ughhh... lame

 went to ashland with sharon and baylor. beautiful weather! had a lovely hack. 

finished up with a test in the anena... so freakin' lame I didn't even get sharon to video more than 20 seconds. super lame. flat tire behind lame. sadness. 

hopefully he didn't do any damage to his stifle.. and more so just aggravated it. 

photos: 10-26 perfect weather, one short video of lameness

Repercussions

 Well darn. When I pulled Dan in to ride today I noticed a scrape of missing hair on his left forearm, that wasn't there the other day. I'm not sure if he just finally lost the hair from the gate or if it's a new wound. And then I noticed that his right forearm seems a little puffy... and feels a little edematous. Fluidy... more than edema I guess. Darn... did you hurt yourself flipping bud??

I decided to go ahead and groom and tack him up and feel him out. Worst case scenario, I'd just get off. So I groomed him and then I tried to find the rib he needed adjusting (per Liz) and then I found a big ol' knot and some heat in his nuchal ligament on both sides, but in different spots. So I worked on that. And once he realized I was working on him, he got into it. So... I'm not sure if that's a sore muscle or just actual muscle in a non-muscled area.. ha ha. But it was tight. And we got releases. I also did some work on his scapula area and... kind of feel like I was feeling some of the "yuckies" come out of him. He releases a few times, so hopefully at the very least, he felt nice. 

We tacked up and headed to the arena. I walked around a good bit and we did a turn on the forehand and a turn on the haunches both ways. It was quite nice! Good boy. Then I picked up the trot. And ugh.. he feels lame. Although he felt lame behind. It sort of felt like his "usual" lameness just a little worse. Like.. he worked out of it, and it was super subtle, but.. it was there. I tried to do a little bit of trotting to see if he'd really work out of it, but... while it got better, it didn't resolve. 

 

I figured I'd just try a quick canter to see and.. he said no. I mean... bless him, he said yes and tried, but he was clearly struggling hard. I tried both ways and interestingly, the left lead canter was harder today. He kept starting off with the right lead but we finally got it and it was awful and he wanted out of it, so I let him. The right lead wasn't as much of a struggle but he wasn't happy or soft in it, so I pulled him up. It's okay bud... we'll just give you another day or two off. 

 

Either he's just super sore from the gate incident, or he's sore from the combination of that and the long haul and the showing and finally he's just had enough. Or maybe I'm willing to hear that he's had enough since there's no show. (Although to be fair.. he definitely was happier cantering before today!). Or maybe he's just due for injections again?  I don't know. I'm going to hope and pray that it's just combined soreness from the show and hauling and then the bad life choice he made. I hate if he's more uncomfortable again, but... since I'll be out for mid Dec to mid February, I don't want to inject anything now. I guess I could shockwave, but... I'll probably give him another few days off and then reassess. Or just take him for a long walk Tuesday and then see how he feels Friday or Saturday and then decide what to do. He'll either be better or worse. Or I suppose he could be the same. Unless he gets worse, he's fine to do walking trail rides, so.. we can always just do that until February and then I'll do another lameness exam and work up. And I'll probably adjust, acupuncture, bemer, etc, all the things, plus shockwave him before then. I was contemplating doing a western dressage test or two at Ashland. Mostly because it's the Halloween show and that's HIS JAM! But, I'm pretty sure Kelly Eaton is the judge, which means it won't count for Western Dressage scores anyways, and... if he's sore.. that's not fair. But he is fun to dress up. Oh well. I'll see how he feels. Maybe he'll bounce back quick and I can reassess.