Grids with Liz

Hmmm... somebody is glad to be jumping again! Too glad! He was a twit.
Liz and I decided to do Grids every Thursday we could. We started with Jimmy Woffords first grid in the grid book. And Fleck was pumped!! He kept charging through it and just getting flat and strung out. Liz wanted me to not hold him up, for therapeutic purposes, but she wanted him to jump round and arc, rather than jumping flat or twisting. And he was not jumping well at first.
So we breathed... and I breathed some more. I had to walk him into the grid to get him to not fly through it. But it worked. He was jumping quite nicely through the grids. I was basically just letting him figure it out himself and hold himself up.
Then we moved on to a single line. Yep... not happening yet.  I couldn't really take him to any single jumps because he was just flinging himself over them. So we decided to just stick with the grid for today and keep it small. Once we've retrained his body to jump better, we'll start going for more.

missed lesson

Ugh... is today Monday?? It sure seems like it.

I cut my turn a little tight and hit the gate post with the trailer fender on my way out with both boys for our lessons. It smashed the gate so that I couldn't latch it shut. And smashed my fender into the wheel. Argh! So... I tried repeatedly to hammer it out and crowbar it out, but it wasn't working. So I called Mike and cried and told Cindy I wasn't sure I was going to make my lesson. I unloaded the boys and tried to fix it. Once the trailer was empty and I got my frustrations out, I was able to tweak it enough to make it usable. So Cindy said to come and ride one in my later lesson and then just ride the other while I was there. Apparently while I was fixing the trailer BOTH ponies decided to roll. In the mud. Ugh. They were filthy. But it's Monday remember?! ;) So of course they did.

Anyways, Dan was good for his lesson and then I got on Fleck. I took it super easy in the arena and sort of fluffed him around on the buckle. He felt pretty decent. After a quick little hack I took him around the pastures and let him trot out and took a bigger and heavier connection. And he felt great!

So then I found Peri and asked her opinion. I rode him deep, like Kelly Eaton wants me to, and he felt awesome! His canter was amazing!!!! Yay! I asked Peri if he was too deep, like rolkur.... and she laughed and said that he was in a training level, maybe first level frame. Doh! I must retrain my brain! But she said that in her opinion, I should ride him with a heavy connection and get him where he needs to be so that he muscles properly and goes there. So she gave me a quick little mini lesson and we played around. Despite calling for Dan, Fleck was lovely! He was slow and balanced and rocked back and really felt quite fancy. I'm sure it wasn't as good as it felt.. but we felt like we were in a third level frame. Hee hee. I swear I really thought he was nose to his chest and Peri kept having to tell me that he was just in a first level frame. Wow... My sense is so warped. But it was great. We got some really lovely trot and canters and Peri even agreed. :) So I only did like 8 minutes and then we quit. I didn't want to make him sore.

But so.... I'm thinking that I need to ride him deep and mega round (which is in reality... normal!) and encourage him to go there and stay there and build muscles there. That should also help keep him sound because he's using himself more properly.

So... a cruddy day actually turned out to be quite nice! Two great rides after all :)

Fingers crossed.... test ride

Well... so far so good. He definitely feels better on the front right. And he seemed quite happy to be out and about. In fact, he was quite the wild man. Considering how hot and humid it was, he was raring to go! There was lots more spooking than usual. He still isn't 100% but that's okay. It's only the 4th day after the injections.

Work up

So...I had made the decision to take Fleck to the vet in Aiken. I wanted him evaluated by someone who didn't know our history and someone who was removed from the situation. Someone who would tell me "he's done... let it go" or "we can fix this and he'll be good to go". Or even "he's got issues, but let's try to manage them". And honestly, I wanted to go to Aiken because I just didn't feel like dealing with the locals and the "gossip". Not that they gossip, but... I just wanted a fresh set of eyes without any baggage. So off we went. Luckily Kathryn was able to meet us there, which was helpful.

When we got there I told the vet what he was doing and what my thoughts were - he wasn't abducting the right hind and seemed scared/painful when he had to do it, how he wasn't pushing from behind, and how recently he was really lame but I couldn't tell where. So we watched him go and he was a bit off but not enough to really say where it was originating from. I did tell him that Wayne found a bruise on the front right two days ago when he was shod, and that he was still a teeny bit sore on it. Dr. Carter palpated him and agreed that it was not his stifle. He did say he thought he was a bit hock sore, but didn't push the issue. He noticed that when he pressed down on his ilium wing, Fleck was sore. Really sore on the right. He tried to isolate the hip and keep the hip joint from moving and Fleck was still sore. But it was hard to say whether he was really isolating the hip. We did some flexions and he was barely a 1 on any of them until we hit the right fetlock. Ouch! Yep... there was some arthritis there that I IRAP'ed originally but not since then.
So.. we decided to inject his hips because Kathryn and I still felt like that might be the issue, or at least close enough to the issue to help him. She said that while it's not necessarily THE issue, it allows THE issue to resolve for a lot of them because they tend to hold it in their hips. And because he was sore when the pelvis was pressed down on. We also injected his right fetlock. 

So..Fleck gets a few days off and then we see! I'm sure he'll feel better with that right front fetlock. I'm thinking that (or the stone bruise) was what was bothering him for my Beth lesson. But I'm hoping I'll notice a big difference with the hip injections. We're also starting him back on Adequan and we'll see. 

I really hope so. I miss riding the big guy. 

Lazy ride with Kelli

So.... Fleck woke up with a swollen eye this morning. Seriously? Horse! We're falling apart! But it was just the lid and he seemed comfortable. I think he was stung. So he got some bute and within an hour or so it was down. So we went for a ride. Because.. .why not?! :)

It was just a nice leisurely hack, with a few trots, and then some lake splashies. :)

Cindy lesson

So... despite the issues... it was good to be back! And God Bless Cindy....

She knew Fleck isn't feeling up to par but we got some nice work. She helped me to ride him therapeutically. Instead of trotting on the icky diagonal, she had me swap diagonals every 3 strides to help keep him and me from bracing. She had me focus on lifting my seat bones instead of sending them (and thus his shoulders) down. Even at the canter, I need to almost alternate lifting my seat bones. I'm not sure that's exactly what she wanted but it was what I was doing and she was saying yes.

Then we isolated it. He doesn't want to bring his right hind laterally. I know this... Cindy saw it. Even leg yielding and tracking and standing, he wants to hold it medially. (almost like a dog with a dislocated hip). When I tried to get him to turn on the haunches to the right (which is always his tough side) he spun. When I sat to the right, instead of letting him fling me to the left, he panicked! BUT.... he did do it after a tantrum and realized he could.

So I'm still thinking right hip or some abductor muscle injury.

But it was good to be back. And he was going quite nice when he could. :) We got a bit more sit and lift than usual. :)

Trails with Kelli

Fleck and I had a fun ride with Kelli. I did his hip stretches and worked on his shoulder/neck. And he felt good. We did a bit of trotting and just had fun hanging out. He felt forward and even. yay!

However, when we got back I put him in the ring for a minute just to see. And he was still lame. Not nearly like what he was at Beths, but not normal. It was worse tracking right again and extra noticeable on the downwards. Dang it... Sigh.. good thing we've got an appointment for Friday.

But at least he feels happier. He's not withdrawing anymore and seems happy to work.