Winter Music

 Photos: Vet Day barrow visit... lame left front, right hind. but not bad. super reactive and flinchy and guarded and braced for thoracolumbar palpation. suspects based on my findings/symptoms... kissing spine. recommended osphos, shockwave and rehab for 30 days on lunge and then... reassess.. could try injections then. so.. that's the plan.  good girl. got foot films. patrick is awesome. fronts' probably stay in wedge but switch to 3d wedge and backs are almost neutral if he can trim some more toe. :)  So... turned back out... then used the horse halo massager on her... for 10 minutes. she liked it.. i think. at first for sure. then shockwaved her back. E6, 600 pulses on each side. ordered osphos and will give that as soon as i get it. Will try to start the lunging protocol soon! Ran out of time today and didn't want to start until i had her shockwaved. and may give her a few days after the osphos since it burns and no equiox then. Plus.. apparently an ice storm.

  Both of us! We're both trying!   It was super cold today but I managed to sneak a ride in on Lyric before the sunset. But man was it cold! Like, she didn't even sweat under her saddle and I didn't get too sweaty in my winter outfit - fleecy breeches, winter tall boots, winter gloves, long john shirt, sweatshirt and heat reflective vest. We rode at home because I had hacked Funny at Ashland and we just didn't have time to go anywhere.  I got her tacked up and hopped on and we headed out the driveway. We did a little meander on the grassy open field between Jean and Art's place. And she was a bit jumpy and spooky. Then as we got halfway up Jean's driveway to the arena, I realized I had my headband on, not my helmet! Ooops! I contemplated.. because it was warm. But figured I should be smart. Especially since she's been balky and threatengin to buck and especially because I had my spurs on and especially because it was cold and windy and she was spooky. And be...

  Today was a dreary day. It was cold and rainy this morning so... we ended up going to AT&T and getting me a new phone. :) I switched to an apple! Eeeks. We'll see if I can get the hang of it. But it's got better video, so... I'm gonna try. ;) Anyways, the sun did come out and we had lunch and then headed home. Of course by the time we got home, the sun had crept back behind the clouds and it was a gray day. BUT... the clouds were quite beautiful so I opted to go to Ashland. I figured I'd take Lyric today and take Funny tomorrow because Laura mentioned trail riding tomorrow and Funny can keep up with Smarty better than Lyric. Plus if Laura wanted to jump, Funny can keep up with Smarty better. So... Lyric and I headed out to Ashland.   She was chomping on the chest bar an awful lot today. I'm not sure if it's because she didn't get sucralfate... because she was hot because I left her blanket on and it was a hair warm or if it was just random or coinciden...

 field lunging

lesson day. went to catch and pulled blankets off others and they went feral and she tried to also. but was good and stayed attached to me.   hack at ashland - put funny's jump saddle on. sitting low even with shims. but same gullet plate as dressage??  walked around and did 20 minutes before lesson. trotted in field. forward and happy. got to lesson and mincy and short and seemed like she didn't want to go into arena. (footing?? behavioral??). jacel looked at saddle and suggested we try it. Said she looked sound and game, so... trotted and cantered and she got happier. set up grids and did grids and a small course. bigger jumps than last week. happy girl. even jumped out of stride. got more forward and less nappy. didn't have to keep kicking to keep her going. but ha.. definitely not the same as funny. stood quiet on the buckle and then when it was her turn.. not a feral barrel horse in the alley ;)  jumped pretty well! I was a hot mess. That saddle does NOT help me...

 rode at home, lame again tracking right. tried to warm her up as best as i could. dressage saddle.

Well, I took Lyric to Ashland today because I wanted to ride her again and wanted to do a nice long warm up again. And it's no fun at home. Especially because she is so nervous in the neighborhood and it's a lot scarier riding on concrete and peoples yards. So we did.  I put the back on track on and her front back on track boots for the trailer ride. When we got to Ashland I put the dressage saddles on her to see which one might fit better. The peter horrobin is definitely too wide. The loxley seems like it fits her great so.. we tried it without the back on track pad (in case it was the back on track pad that was causing the rubbing). I hopped on and away we went.   She felt good and was pretty forward and marching. Although she had to keep stopping and sniffing things.    It was a good ride.  She trotted fine in the woods. She was forward and not mincy or chompy. However I realized the saddle was sitting too low so after our hack I put the half pad with f...

 So confused!!   gave sucralfate before hauling. bit the chest bar a bunch. put dressage saddle with half pad with front shims.    tacked up, super nervous. hacked for 30 minutes. Super nervous. dredging equipment was loud. Spooked at a log... spooked at a tiny creek. but brave.    got to arena for lesson and trotted around. felt better than at the home arena. more forward but still feels a bit behind the leg. did a few laps then sat for a minute then jacel got on.  jacels findings: walk feels fine. trot feels bad. canter not great on right. feels like right shoulder area. lame steps right front intermittently. lame on tighter right circles and when first tracking to right. right lead canter feels icky like she had to swing her right front laterally to pick it up the first time. very much feels right front up high to jacel. She didn't think she felt stabby/slammy up front... didn't think that her downshifting when you take your leg off was an issue and...