Winter Music

  Today was lesson day with Liz! So helpful!  Luckily Lyric and Dan came when I called so I didn't have to walk all the way back up to the arena to get Lyric. I tacked her up and we headed up to the arena. I jogged her around the arena once to loosen her up and then Liz looked at her. She said she didn't feel that weird toxic feel anymore, so yay for that! (Although I may test her for Lyme just in case). She felt some heat just above her knee caudally... said if felt more like tennis elbow... like nerve pain/tension type pain. And she felt like that was making it uncomfortable for her to pull her limb foreward and push off of it, thus she was dumping onto her front right... which now has a new medial high splint. Argh... like... new today I think! Or the last day or two. And then she said her hocks were sore, especially the left. And a little bit of soreness over her TL junction in her spine.  So we started with some groundwork. I walked her over the poles but we drifted ...

 grrrr even rode in the jump saddle but definitely lame and unhappy. And hind end not happy. bottomed out tracking left 3 times and then really hard once tracking right. gave up after that.  maybe she needs the way longer warm up? Maybe she needs harder footing? Maybe she was sore from yesterday? ???? rode at home.. cold and chilly

 went to CE with Sharon today since Ashland was a zoo ;) Full of aliens and bees and minions. ;) Spooked at toilet paper. good with the gunshots. fun. rode in jump saddle. felt sound but only trotted straight lines. but much more marchy in the walk even

  Today was farrier day and lunge day.  I told Patrick all that was going on and that I had no idea what her problem was. I showed him the photo of her standing over the trough. And then we had pulled her shoes by then and were discussing whether we wanted the pads again or what and I was explaining that I thought that she needed wedges because of the NPA but that I also felt like she was potbellied looking and stuck in flexion. And that the wedges were maybe making her more in flexion... so I was trying to show him how I wanted her back to look and she shifted and stood square (barefoot on all four) and suddenly we both looked at each other and were like "Like that?!"... So.. hmmm... okay... then I grabbed my angled wedge surefoot pad and stood her on it, and her posture got worse again. So... we decided to go back to flat pads with frog support but Patrick was going to trim her toe as much as he could to eliminate the negative angle without a wedge.  So.. we'll see what...

 photos: 10-25 post shockwave also noticed not chewing on the chest bar 

  Well poo. Lyric is still lame, even with previcox on board now. I didn't ride yesterday because I spent the day unloading 317 bales of hay. So.. today, it rained this morning but then cleared up. So I grabbed a pony and we headed to Ashland. Lyric volunteered, so.... she got to go.    I put the back on track on for the trip there although it was starting to get sunny and warm. We tacked up and headed to the trails. We did some hills today. And we trotted and even had a nice long canter/gallop on the gallop track. Not the best choice in the dressage saddle with extra long stirrups. Ha ha. But we were fine. She felt very resistant to bending left at all today, even on the trails. And she maybe felt a little mincy overall. She tripped/stumbled a few times too. But we had a nice ride and mostly she was fine. She even walked over the creek without hesitating.  We ended up doing a little work in the arena when we were done hacking. And... she definitly feels lame trackin...

  I don't know if i'm losing my mind....  Lyric is sound.... yet.... I'm starting to really worry. Her topline isn't looking as good. She's starting to get some atrophy in her trapezius and also along her longissimus. She's doing that thing where she's sitting on the wall again... and the other day she sat on the wall, pushed into it, then bit at the wall. And then I noticed that on the last trailer ride, she was biting at the chest bar repeatedly and then licking and chewing. And then today... I saw her straddling the water trough. (which.. is extra weird because it's not tall enough for her to sit on). And she still looks almost pot bellied to me. Then, you combine all that with her exaggerated right front foreward grazing stance... and her inability to bend around my left leg... the fact that you can't pull her left leg in front of her right front to get her to stand/graze and instead have to push her right front back... really is making me start ...