We love Jacel!!!

 How lucky am I?! Seriously... I got up this morning and fed my four wonderful ponies and then got to take two lesson in my arena at my farm! And with Jacel! I adore her. She is seriously talented at teaching horses and riders!

Lyric was on babysitting duty last night so she stayed in with Dan. I opted to get up and feed her and leave her in until my lesson because she tends to be naughty to catch sometimes. And I figured since she had been in all night, today would be a good time for her to decide she didn't want to be caught again. And my lesson was at 8:30 am, so.. not like she stayed in forever. Plus she got hay! 

 

So I tacked up and we headed up to the arena. She was a good girl and I told Jacel that she was a little sore the other day but I was hoping she was okay now. So I walked her off and Jacel watched and didn't notice anything and then she had me trot. And crap.. she was lame! Like... very lame! But as I trotted a few more steps and then a circle or two, she worked out of it. I was telling Jacel how I couldn't quite tell if it was front end or hind end and even though she was jumping so good last week in our lesson, she still felt stabby/mincy/short to me. Symmetric, but not as fluid. And I felt like I was having to push her more. But then she was jumping so well.. better than she ever has! And I told her how she had lost her hind end repeatedly. I didn't know if it was a weakness and her stifles were bothering her because she's been in a stall for 12 hours every other night and then the rest of the time they weren't out and about grazing like they normally would be... or if she was legit lame and I needed to get her worked up. Or was she just foot sore because it hasn't rained in a month at least and she has thin soles and "thoroughbred feet", although she does have pour in pads in fronts and the wedge pads behind. So, Jacel wanted to watch her go. And we figured that we would do a "diagnostic" lesson at the very least. So she took some video. And when I first started trotting, Lyric literally lost her hind end about 7 times in the first 10 minutes or so. Jacel kept looking away at the wrong moment but caught it a few times. She said it didn't look like her stifle was catching because it was definitely different than the last time. She watched her trot on a straight line and then videoed it and watched it in slow motion. It looks like Lyric is tight rope walking/trotting behind and landing laterally on each hind foot. And then she's also forging a tiny bit too. So Jacel thinks that she's actually literally tripping herself up by crossing a hind foot so far in midline that she's literally tripping one hind foot over the other. Which sort of makes sense because it doesn't quite feel like the usual "catching stifle" feel. It really does sort of feel like she's tripping herself up. And she isn't ouchy for a stride or two after it happens either. The longer I rode her the more free and loose she got and then after about the first 10 minutes, she didn't trip again. So I do think there is some degree of tightness/tension that's contributing. 

So then she wanted to see what happened in the canter so we cantered. And it looked and felt pretty normal. We talked a good bit and basically... she doesn't think she's sore or hurting. She thinks that perhaps her balance in her hind feet has gotten off since it's two cycles into the pads for the negative plantar angles. And that it's causing her to tight rope walk and that's creating the tripping. So we decided that since she was feeling better and really kind of back to normal at this point we would hop over a few fences and do some more sleuthing. And obviously, if things indicated pain or struggles, we would stop. Oh, and she also palpated her and while she was a hair sore on the right pelvis, she wasn't reactive anywhere else. And I think that's where I found it too when I adjusted her a few weeks ago. Guess it's time to do it again and really do the acupuncture too!

So she set up the low wide oxer and had me canter it. And Lyric jumped it fine. We did it a few times and she was having fun. And we noticed that she's jumping straight and holding her line. She's taking off from the middle and landing in the middle. She's jumping nicely out of stride. She's not stopping and hovering. She's not acting like a horse in pain at all. Especially not in the hind end. She was actually pushing off nicely. I did mention that I felt a little worried that maybe she was painful but was powering through because she's a thoroughbred with a good work ethic, but... Jacel reminded me that she does have a good work ethic but she also says no when she can't or hurts. She was stopping at tadpole and amoeba fences. She was stopping at big fences. She was almost stopping and throwing herself over. So... we carried on.

We ended up making the fence a bit bigger and wider and worked on the turn to it. It was really the only jump in the arena that we used and it was set in the center so I had to come off the rail down the long side, then turn into centerline and jump. I was balancing and shortening her in the turn. Nope! Keep her coming through the turn. Don't chase her, but encourage her to keep the same pace and energy through the turn, but balanced. And then I didn't have to gun her at the fence after the turn. Also, I was lifting my inside hand too much when we did the turns. So I worked on keeping my inside hand low and keeping her revved through the turn. And it worked! She even took another long spot! And she had to reach over that wide oxer. And when she landed, she was feisty and took to broncing!! And not her usual porpoise broncs... These were legit! She put her nose between her toes, arched that back of hers, and did about 4 or 5 leaps straight into the air and straight down and straight back up again. I was like a rodeo cowgirl up there... my reins at the buckle, keeping my legs in front of me and my back up... ha ha.. I was laughing but at one point I realized I was maybe not going to keep sticking it and it would very likely hurt, so I managed to get her head up and stop her. Jacel was laughing so hard she strained her abs! Ha ha.. I was giggling too. Of course that wasn't on video!!! Good grief... all my fun stuff lately isn't on vidoes! Doh!

So we came again and she was fine. She even took another slightly longer spot but no bucking. And then we were working on the pace in the turn and I overshot the turn and we just cantered on past the jump. Ha ha. My bad!

We finished with a good pass or two and called it quits. The final thought was that it's not lameness or soreness... it's just mechanical issues with the hind end. Now I just need to decide whether Patrick can fix it without x-rays again or if I need to coordinate with Dr. Barrow. And then, as luck would have it... when I went to pick up hay today from Erin, Patrick was there shoeing her horses so I chatted with him. He thought he could fix it and it would be worth trying that first rather than spending vet money just yet. So yay! She's also been on previcox for a week now maybe because I thought she was footsore, so I'll probably leave her on it a bit longer and then pull it off and see how she does. Hopefully we're all right and it's nothing more but she really was jumping so well and happily that I don't know that it is pain.