Well damn... just damn....

 Sigh... I want to cry. I did cry. Sigh... my poor beautiful girl. 

We had the saddle fitter come today to assess the disaster dressage saddle. It's not the original fitter but someone she recommended who was traveling past us to go to her other clients. So yay! Maybe I can finally decide one way or another with this saddle. But nope... 

Since she was coming I had her check the other saddles and horses too. And Kelli came and brought Marvin. She looked at Lyric and thought that the dressage saddle fit her pretty decently, it just needed flocking because the wool was completely squashed and not much in there. She was going to flock it and have me ride in it but then I mentioned that I was also using it on Funny and wanted her to check it on her first. She did mention she wanted me to try riding her in it to see it. I told her about the rehab stuff and lameness but then honestly, I sort of thought it might be worth seeing how she felt, especially given the vet visit tomorrow. But I did add the caveat that I needed to lunge her first. So I took her to the roundpen and lunged her briefly while they worked on Marvin. She was about the same she has been. I didn't do her full lunging protocol because I wanted to see what she was saying about Kelli's saddle. So then we checked Funny and she said that it was too narrow for her. Well poo. 

So I tacked up Lyric and we headed to the arena. Luckily the rest of the herd came too. I figured that would help since I haven't ridden Lyric in at least 5 weeks or so... actually probably longer than that and it was windy! I did tell them that I wanted to lunge her with the saddle on first, partly because I wanted to see if that made a difference in her soundness but also partly because I haven't ridden her in many weeks and it was windy. And... she looked about the same as she did without the saddle. I did have to encourage her a bit more with the whip, especially considering she should have been "up". But the lameness wasn't worse. Which is interesting given the shoulder girdle theory, but... also I did shockwave her yesterday. So I got on. And she was a good girl but she was not really wanting to go. I picked up the trot tracking left and she was pretty unhappy - flinging her head around and fussy with her mouth. And not sound. Then we tracked right and holy cow she was crippled lame. I only managed about 5 steps before I pulled her up she was so bad. Even Kelli and the saddle fitter were like "oh dear... get off!". Sigh... I wanted to cry right then and there. My poor girl. I didn't have time to think about the repurcussions of what that meant just then. The saddle fitter did say that the saddle looked good statically but that she couldn't really assess anything in motion though she didn't see anything glaring. I still felt like I was falling downhill a bit, which may be Lyric but... may still be the saddle. 

She did say that perhaps I could put Funny's jump saddle on her with shims but she said she wouldn't really stress about it right now given the soundness issues. Fair. We did put the collegiate and the peter horrobin saddles on her and she felt like none of them worked. 

After they left I put the bemer on Lyric - sheet and boots - and fed them. After dinner I pulled her into the aisle and adjusted her. I didn't tie her... just asked her to stand. I had to correct her a few times but she basically stayed put mostly. She was a bit sore in her lumbar and gluteals and SI joints. She wasn't reactive in her TMJ today, so yay for that. I adjusted both SI joints, the left stifle, both shoulders and a lot of her neck. She was initially a little reactive over her DSPS at L1 area but that went away with an adjustment. Interestingly she does have some white hairs there too. Sigh... what does that mean?? After her adjustment there was no reaction over her DSPs and she was much happier in the rest of her body too. I got some good releases in her head and neck. And hopefully she'll not be so traumatized in the barn aisle now. 

So... we'll see what happens tomorrow at her vet visit. I'm not even sure what I think anymore... I don't know if the extra weight from me means it's not shoulder girdle or confirms it is shoulder girdle.. I don't know if it means she hates that saddle even after it's been flocked... I don't know if it's more foot pain.... I just have no idea. And I have no idea what steps to take to get her better... do I stay the course and keep lunging and do her back again? Then keep lunging until I can do her shoulder girdle? Do I go ahead and do her shoulder girdle and then go back to her back? Do I go chasing the front end lameness with multiple diagnostics in case it's not shoulder girdle? Do I x-ray her back? Her neck? Schedule an MRI of her feet? Sigh... and I have no idea what to do about her saddle... yes, it's been cleared and considered okay, but... the local saddle fitter said absolutely not, so..who do I believe? Clearly Lyric isn't happy in it, but... is that because it's the saddle specifically or something else? I'm sure if I had tacked her up in another saddle she'd be just as lame because she was with my jump saddle too that had been comfortable for her previously but... not 100% sure. 

Sigh.. I just want my poor baby girl to be happy and comfortable. I miss her... I miss riding her and doing things with her. This sucks.