Snowy ride

 Kind of. :) We managed to sneak in a ride on Saturday at home. The arena was covered with snow Friday but by Saturday it was cleared other than a few spots. It was still frozen on the long side closest to the pasture but we stayed off the rail and it was fine. The rest of the arena was just wet and sloppy but ridable! So we rode! Because, I desperately wanted to see if the shockwave helped her soundness. 

 

I tacked her up at the trailer and poor girl was shivering when I first pulled her blanket off! I'm sorry girl! It's not that cold, is it?! I curried her well, tacked up quick, and we headed up to the arena. I did put the mattes fleece half pad on too. We did a brisk walk and I think she warmed up quick. I lunged her before I got on but she looked pretty good honestly, so we didn't lunge very long. 

 

I got on and she felt pretty darn good actually. Like, as good or better than she had the last few rides until the bad ride. So.. interesting. It makes me wonder if it's because of the previcox or because I fixed the pain with the shockwave. It makes a ton of sense that the saddle was the problem and that it damaged her scapular cartilage and made her sore. And that once we fixed the saddle, she got better until I put the jump saddle on which has the more forward flap. But.. it's still hard to feel certain because... it's so ingrained in me that it's in the limb! And if it weren't for the previcox, I'd be very confident, but... I suppose the previcox could be masking pain anywhere. And previously, she was also sounder on previcox. But.. maybe it is her scapulas. 

 

We had a good ride. We worked on our homework and other than tossing her head occasionally, we had some good work. I kept it short and simple because it was cold and I didn't want to push it too much, especially since I had shockwaved her. 

 

When we got back to the trailer I decided that I wanted to shockwave her other scapula too. Because duh! I know she's worse on the right but I'm sure there was some trauma to the left scapula too. Plus I guessed on the E level and Dr. Kate suggested I use E6 instead of E4, so I just went ahead and did both scapulas again. However, that meant that I had to walk her in the barn past the inflatable T-rex raft. I suspected that it may not go over well. But she didn't care. She just glanced at it and walked right by. She did get upset that the other horses weren't at the barn and pooped all over my stuff and stepped on my ultrasound gel bottle, squirting it everywhere. Doh! But we got it accomplished and put her jammies back on and turned her out. Hopefully that, some time, and having her saddle fixed will get her back to happy again soon! Ideally before the Lucinda clinic!