Isn't that a weird complaint?!
So, Last week I worked with Cass each day, except for Thursday. On Friday I rode her and she was really good. If I had timed it right I would've gone out with a fellow boarder to the track, but she was under saddle too long for that, so i called it quits.
Here is her deal. She's lame. But its really low grade, and only in 1 direction, and only at the trot. It doesnt get worse with work, nor does it get better.
What to do? Not lame enough for a nerve block. Not sound enough for me to be comfortable with working her consistently. I fear I will cause her unnecessary damage.
So, I'm putting her on a bute-less type herbal supplement called Ani-motion to see if that moves the needle at all.
She really seems to enjoy the work- she is so easy to catch, in fact comes right up. she's in enough of a routine that if she didn't like it, she wouldn't let me catch her.
The holding pattern continues...
Monday, June 29, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
And the testing continues
The quest for soundness continues for Cassie.
monday: tacked her up and longed- she looked perhaps slightly off on her bad direction- but really, was hard to tell. So, then i climbed on her to see if weight on her back would exacerbate it. She's definitely, uhm, not relaxed with a rider on her back- it took her about 10 minutes at a walk just to stop doing the humpy back walk- but did not buck or anything. i eventually got her trotting and she was sound looking & feeling. But man, is she ever crooked feeling!
tuesday: longe line with surcingle...and...sound- better than yesterday.
So, there we are: 4 days of being in work and pretty sound!
monday: tacked her up and longed- she looked perhaps slightly off on her bad direction- but really, was hard to tell. So, then i climbed on her to see if weight on her back would exacerbate it. She's definitely, uhm, not relaxed with a rider on her back- it took her about 10 minutes at a walk just to stop doing the humpy back walk- but did not buck or anything. i eventually got her trotting and she was sound looking & feeling. But man, is she ever crooked feeling!
tuesday: longe line with surcingle...and...sound- better than yesterday.
So, there we are: 4 days of being in work and pretty sound!
Monday, June 22, 2009
Soundness check
So, after 5 days of waiting, I decided on Saturday to check out Cassie's soundness with her newly shod hooves. This was triggered by my vet's email that said to put her back in work and see what happens. If she goes lame, we'll do a block. Basically, more diagnostics.
Saturday: SOUND. YAY! Both directions, no issues- she actually looked comfortable.
Sunday: I took it up a notch and tacked her up. Her lameness tends to be exacerbated by tack- anything that goes around the girth area- surcingle, saddle girth, anything. Doesn't seem to matter if it is a treeless, treed, bareback pad on top. So i tacked her up and off to the arena. She looked great. I could detect the weirdness she has when she moves with tack on, but overall, she looked very comfortable and not lame.
So today, we do it again. And the same for tomorrow. And so it goes.
I'm not longeing the heck out of her- i'm actually doing mostly walk and some trot for about 10-15 minutes total. If she's going to be lame, she'll show it in that time.
Fingers crossed!
Cabo is doing well. Irritated when i take one of his girls away...but he'll survive. At least he moves around a little bit when that happens! LOL.
Oh, I did say "girls." I have a new pony on trial for the husband...more about her when it becomes official.
Saturday: SOUND. YAY! Both directions, no issues- she actually looked comfortable.
Sunday: I took it up a notch and tacked her up. Her lameness tends to be exacerbated by tack- anything that goes around the girth area- surcingle, saddle girth, anything. Doesn't seem to matter if it is a treeless, treed, bareback pad on top. So i tacked her up and off to the arena. She looked great. I could detect the weirdness she has when she moves with tack on, but overall, she looked very comfortable and not lame.
So today, we do it again. And the same for tomorrow. And so it goes.
I'm not longeing the heck out of her- i'm actually doing mostly walk and some trot for about 10-15 minutes total. If she's going to be lame, she'll show it in that time.
Fingers crossed!
Cabo is doing well. Irritated when i take one of his girls away...but he'll survive. At least he moves around a little bit when that happens! LOL.
Oh, I did say "girls." I have a new pony on trial for the husband...more about her when it becomes official.
Monday, June 15, 2009
And the results are...
Still pending. That is, of Cassie's lameness workup. Basically, she had 2 weeks off prior to the lameness eval (by request of vet) so by the time vet came, she was barely lame. Left front, and worse when tracking right. Not lame enough to do a nerve block- horse has to be lame enough for nerve block to show a distinguishable change, if it is going to. Hooves tested negative with hoof testers. Pulled shoes, and pad on left, did hoof testing again- still no response. Took xrays of both hooves. And here is where it gets interesting:
On the skyline view- the left front coffin bone appears to have some demineralization (degeneration) present. On the lateral view, the same bone has an osteophyte on the solar plane of the coffin bone.
Or so we think. Vet wants to be 100% sure so sent to radiologist who specializes in reading hoof xrays.
So that is the thought- nothing beyond it. Depending on what we get back from the specialist, we may well have to induce the lameness to do the nerve block.
I found a great farrier looking to work directly with the vet as a partnership to help my girl. I've given him all the info I have, and he's going to work on her today- see if we can't get her comfortable. He has rave reviews, and I like all the hooves I've seen him work on. It should be a good thing!
So for now....lame, but barely so. Hopefully that will change.
On the skyline view- the left front coffin bone appears to have some demineralization (degeneration) present. On the lateral view, the same bone has an osteophyte on the solar plane of the coffin bone.
Or so we think. Vet wants to be 100% sure so sent to radiologist who specializes in reading hoof xrays.
So that is the thought- nothing beyond it. Depending on what we get back from the specialist, we may well have to induce the lameness to do the nerve block.
I found a great farrier looking to work directly with the vet as a partnership to help my girl. I've given him all the info I have, and he's going to work on her today- see if we can't get her comfortable. He has rave reviews, and I like all the hooves I've seen him work on. It should be a good thing!
So for now....lame, but barely so. Hopefully that will change.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Quick Picture
Silly me- husband could not possibly come out to take pictures because the Lakers were playing, and apparently that is important. I know nothing about basketball, so I just let it go.
That said, i almost forgot to snap pictures. I was about ready to leave and then remembered. So i snagged him from his dinner (the horror), didnt even brush the kid, and boom, took a picture. LOL.
I'm setting the bar low for picture taking- the ones to come will be better!
That said, i almost forgot to snap pictures. I was about ready to leave and then remembered. So i snagged him from his dinner (the horror), didnt even brush the kid, and boom, took a picture. LOL.
I'm setting the bar low for picture taking- the ones to come will be better!
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Evaluation
One of the best ways to figure out how well your horse is going is to ride another horse and compare. More experienced or greener than yours- doesn't matter- your experience in the saddle will tell you what you need to know.
I did just that yesterday. I rode a friend's new mare, a green 12 year old. Cute cute cute, but when my friend said its like riding a brick wall, I didn't think much of it. Until I got on. Yowsa.
Cute & fast honest little mare- but has zero flexion in any part of her body, and one of the hardest mouths I've felt in a long time! But she just needs to be worked with, and would be really easy to turn around. She was easier to work with at a trot- i was able to get her soften faster at a working trot, asking her to go more forward than she wanted to, which tends to slow a quick horse down, and soften too.
I had to work for that ride- really really work. Mentally and physically. I then realized how far Cabo has come because in some respects, he started out like this mare. Very tense, probably due to his previous injury, stiff and unbending. Sure, he had some 'give' in his mouth, like he new how to be put into a 'headset' (which i DETEST and refuse to ever do and yet see it a lot out here, mostly in the western pleasure-gone-'english' variety of riders), but his body was not connected at all. So, even though we haven't done a whole lot of riding together, he has really come a long way in that time. Nice to see!
That brings me to my next rant. Its my blog so I can say it. I need to find a way to deal with this because one day my brain might just explode while riding. Here goes. I hate the way I hear "English" being used to describe the discipline. I'm sorry, there is a whole lot more to it than throwing on an all purpose saddle, a d-bit and posting on a tr-alking horse. Don't fiddle the nose down by sawing side-to-side because you no longer have a leverage bit. The western version of hunt seat riding, called "English" drives me bonkers, and is beginning to do so more and more.
And I hate answering the "oh you ride english? I do too." line. Cuz yes, i use an english saddle 99% of the time, even on trails. But no, I do not "ride english" the way you ride english. So don't ask me about my horse's headset, or how I can stand to be in an english saddle that long (a *gasp* dressage saddle, though that often goes unnoticed). I don't ask you if you ride "western" nor do i make claims that I ride "western" because I own a saddle with a horn. I realize there is more to it than making your horse's head touch the ground going as slow as possible.
Ok, rant over.
I did just that yesterday. I rode a friend's new mare, a green 12 year old. Cute cute cute, but when my friend said its like riding a brick wall, I didn't think much of it. Until I got on. Yowsa.
Cute & fast honest little mare- but has zero flexion in any part of her body, and one of the hardest mouths I've felt in a long time! But she just needs to be worked with, and would be really easy to turn around. She was easier to work with at a trot- i was able to get her soften faster at a working trot, asking her to go more forward than she wanted to, which tends to slow a quick horse down, and soften too.
I had to work for that ride- really really work. Mentally and physically. I then realized how far Cabo has come because in some respects, he started out like this mare. Very tense, probably due to his previous injury, stiff and unbending. Sure, he had some 'give' in his mouth, like he new how to be put into a 'headset' (which i DETEST and refuse to ever do and yet see it a lot out here, mostly in the western pleasure-gone-'english' variety of riders), but his body was not connected at all. So, even though we haven't done a whole lot of riding together, he has really come a long way in that time. Nice to see!
That brings me to my next rant. Its my blog so I can say it. I need to find a way to deal with this because one day my brain might just explode while riding. Here goes. I hate the way I hear "English" being used to describe the discipline. I'm sorry, there is a whole lot more to it than throwing on an all purpose saddle, a d-bit and posting on a tr-alking horse. Don't fiddle the nose down by sawing side-to-side because you no longer have a leverage bit. The western version of hunt seat riding, called "English" drives me bonkers, and is beginning to do so more and more.
And I hate answering the "oh you ride english? I do too." line. Cuz yes, i use an english saddle 99% of the time, even on trails. But no, I do not "ride english" the way you ride english. So don't ask me about my horse's headset, or how I can stand to be in an english saddle that long (a *gasp* dressage saddle, though that often goes unnoticed). I don't ask you if you ride "western" nor do i make claims that I ride "western" because I own a saddle with a horn. I realize there is more to it than making your horse's head touch the ground going as slow as possible.
Ok, rant over.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Click
2 lightbulb moments yesterday:
Cabo: I can stay nice, round, and supple even at the trot.
Cassie: I will not die if Cabo is taken away.
Wow, 2 good horses in one day...what will today bring? LOL
I am still smiling over Cabo's ride- he tried so hard yesterday and did so well. I could not have been more proud of my boy. No warm ups- just get on and go. Lots of walking for my hips, asking him to stretch down while i do that, and then flex every now and again. Some trotting- and WOW- what a trot!!!! Nice and soft and round. If he stiffened I'd just squeeze my outside rein and boom- soft again. He totally gets it now. Now with that understanding, I was able to start applying my leg a little, asking for bigger steps, and actually getting those instead of small fast ones. Still a lot to be done there, but the softness at the trot milestone is just wonderful. Love it!!
Cabo: I can stay nice, round, and supple even at the trot.
Cassie: I will not die if Cabo is taken away.
Wow, 2 good horses in one day...what will today bring? LOL
I am still smiling over Cabo's ride- he tried so hard yesterday and did so well. I could not have been more proud of my boy. No warm ups- just get on and go. Lots of walking for my hips, asking him to stretch down while i do that, and then flex every now and again. Some trotting- and WOW- what a trot!!!! Nice and soft and round. If he stiffened I'd just squeeze my outside rein and boom- soft again. He totally gets it now. Now with that understanding, I was able to start applying my leg a little, asking for bigger steps, and actually getting those instead of small fast ones. Still a lot to be done there, but the softness at the trot milestone is just wonderful. Love it!!
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