Well....

 I don't even know what's happening anymore. ;) Seriously though... is she lame? Is she sound? Is she neuro? Is she fine? 

 

I'm definitely hormonal and was cranky yesterday and sad today. Super sad. Like.. cried just thinking about Lyric. Perimenopause is fun! Ugh. I rode Funny at Ashland. I was supposed to have a XC lesson but it got canceled so I just took her for a hack and did some dressage. I was tempted to take Lyric too and just hack her... no arena work.. just a hack. BUT... I've got a lesson tomorrow with Kelly Eaton, and had originally planned to bring her. So I was thinking that if I did take her tomorrow, perhaps it would be way too much stimulation to have had yesterdays hard ride.. then a trailer ride and then a hack on terrain... then another trailer ride tomorrow with a lesson... That seemed like a lot. Although I did debate trying to swap out and ride Funny instead. But, I didn't know what to do so I texted Kelly about it. She suggested I bring Lyric as she had some ideas, so... (oh, and I need to grab my lunge line too!). And now, I'm glad I decided to not swap her out, because... I do feel like I need/want another opinion. And, maybe even have Kelly sit on her. Anyways, I figured I could always hack Lyric tomorrow even if I didn't have a lesson and if I did have a lesson, then I'd already be there and could do a hack. Although she might be too fatigued to hack after her lesson, but we shall see. 

 

Anyways... I did talk to Kelli on my way home with Funny and she helped me decide that I did need to make a vet appointment vs just "keep trying on my own". I still feel fairly certain that it's in her neck so perhaps more neck films. But then, I pulled up her old neck films from last year and... other than one spot in her skull, they look pretty decent. So... now I don't know. I just... have no flippin' clue!

 

Anyways, after I got home from riding Funny I still had time since Mike was in the mountains on his bike. So... I went and grabbed her and took her to the barn. I checked her poll and adjusted a few things and... rather than just adjusting her "universally" and for more of an AP-L... I did her left occiput. And got some interesting releases! Like yawns and big licks and mouth movements. Hmmm.... I also got C3 and C6 and C7. But... the occiput was kind of thought provoking. Then I did a tiny bit of fascial work and got more releases. Okay.. well, let's see. 

We tacked up and walked up to the arena. I did my usual warm up stuff... turn on the forehand, turn on the haunches, back up, back up a hill, and then an in hand jog around the arena. She was stretching down tracking left today.. Not as much tracking right. I think... Then I got on.

She started out a bit putzy but not as neuro feeling. We worked on straightness and again, it feels like she wants to land hard right on the right front. But if I ride always with the right shoulder being pushed left, it seems to straighten her. We did some trotting and she smoothed out fairly quickly. But then Dan came cantering up and then cantered off and Jean's horses got riled up, so... Lyric got all on alert and was whinnying. I let her be and stand for a minute and then, when she felt less frantic, we went back to work. She was definitely more amped up and more forward and almost runny. Which.. was kind of nice compared to the putz. She did lose her hind end once, but I honestly can't remember where in the scheme of things it was.. before she got amped up, right after, long time after? 

She did eventually settle down and we had a good ride. We trotted straight lines, did trot walk trot transitions, we did circles and then straight lines and then circles. We changed directions. And we even trotted the single slalom line which she handled remarkably well considering. We also did some leg yield. She got a tiny bit rooty today but didn't feel lame today. And she was pretty decent in her body, although a bit hollow sometimes. I did feel like she lifted her back better today. AND.... she felt straighter in her poll. She didn't seem quite so crooked, so.. maybe I fixed her. I at least improved it! Yay! We also played with trot halt trots and she did pretty well with that too. 

So... I figured I should be done, but then... I debated... should I canter her?? Or should I wait until I've got someone else there (ie.. my Kelly lesson)... but I decided might as well. She felt more forward today and I had kind of been thinking she was ready. So.. we got a nice walk again and then a nice trot and then picked up the right lead canter. And it was quite nice. She went right into it and we had a decent canter circle. I pulled her up and praised her. Then we went left. She got a bit anxious and it took me a minute or so to get her trot settled enough to ask. And she picked it right up... but it was definitely quicker and less soft and more braced that the right lead. We did a circle and as I was leg yielding her out a tiny bit because of the poles in the arena, she felt a hair scrambly and then tried to buck. I don't know if she got off balance and then got upset and that's why she bucked... if it was pain... or just excited... I was able to keep her head up and rode through it and then we got a decent canter for another half circle and then I pulled her up. More praise and then we were done and headed home. We didn't do any trotting in the field after that, because... ha!! I didn't want to over do it but mostly.. I didn't want to get bucked off. WIth the dog pen field being open and the horses being a bit silly and Jean's horses a bit silly, and Lyric being a bit herd bound because Dan didn't come up to the arena with us... I figured that would really be pushing my luck! She'd want to go galloping back to them, or they would come galloping up.. so we just walked back home. And she was good. 

I hosed her off and fly sprayed her and turned her out in the stall. She walked out of the stall and then by the time I put the halter on the hook and walked back out, she was in the dog pen pasture with the others, so.. she must have cantered off. But I missed it. 

So... we'll see what Kelly thinks tomorrow. I don't know if I NEED to support her more to help her... or if I should not support her so she learns to support herself... if I should alternate between the two for both benefits... if I just am reading way too much into things and just need to carry on... or if she's super broken and just trying her best because that's how she is. ??? But, at least today was a good ride. And it was nice to canter her again.