A teeny bit better

 So... interesting.. This morning I gave Lyric two grams of bute because we were supposed to have a lesson. And I debated it... but I also didn't want her to be uncomfortable. Although she also got shockwaved the other night. And I planned to ride in the jump saddle, so a few variables. But... I figured I could tease them back out later if needed. 

 

However, Jacel was running late so she only had time to teach me on one horse today so Funny won. But I decided it was probably worth still hopping on Lyric. So I did. I put the jump saddle on and also took her noseband off. (No specific reason really). The bute should have kicked in by this point as it was about 3 hours after she got it. Although, maybe not quite. Anyways... we headed up to the arena but first we did two laps around the pasture. Then we walked a bit in the arena and then we trotted. Sigh... and she isn't any better really. Still super chompy and rooty. Ugh. 

 

But we kept at it and I tried very hard to do all the right things.... ride her shoulders... ride her straight in her body... keep her neck neutral (her ears at wither height)... keep pushing the contact towards her... keep my hands higher vs lower.... and we did our counter bend, true bend, leg yield out exercises. And... it got better. She was still chompy and still rooting some but maybe less so. And in spite of that we did manage to get some really nice moments. She felt like she was connected and her back was lifting and she was soft and in a bit of self-carriage. Moments... but still! And I got brave and cantered and my back was tight but it was doable. We got the nice trot before the canter but we never really got a lovely canter. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't that amazing canter we got in my Liz lesson. We were able to come back to some decent trot work and then a lovely engaged transition to the walk. So we quit with that. I did make her do some transitions to help engage that hind end, including some almost walk transitions. But she still felt out behind a good bit and stubbed her toe behind a handful of times. She maybe felt a little bit less on the forehand today. 

  

So.. yeah, I don't know. I don't understand why she's so neuro feeling behind.. is it neuro? Is it biomechanical? And why she's so anxious and chompy...  and I have no idea if she likes the narrrower saddle better, because it seems like she does, but then today after our ride, she was maybe the teeniest bit tender at her wither sides, which could be saddle related. Sigh... Do I keep her on previcox? But did the bute even help? And if the bute doesn't help, then .... is it saddle? Neuro? ECVM? Do I inject her shoulder girdle again? Do I give her injections more time to kick in? Do I treat her for EPM even though her titer was low? Do I test her for Lyme and/or treat her for that? Do I do neck rads and look for ECVM? Do... I just give up and let her be a pasture/trail horse like Dan? Sigh...  She's so beautiful and when she's good, she is lovely. I just want her to be happy and comfortable but ideally also have a job. 

I don't know.. I guess I'll give her a few more rides, stay in the jump saddle, and see if her injections do make a difference over the next few days. I still have to finish her left front shockwave protocol too.