Gemini's Hock gets injected

Well, here we go. I hope this has positive impact. He sedated Gem and tried to pull some of the fluid from the swollen tendon sheath. The fluid had viscosity and Tom was pleased to see that. It's not near the hock spur, which is bizarre. It's about 2" higher. A few days of rest and then we'll see how Gem feels.

Gem's hock and Doc's opinion

Spent time with Tom today figuring out the best protocol for Gem and his hock. Tom quickly saw the lameness and we talked about options. We decided to inject his hock with cortisone. If that doesn't work, I don't know what I'll do. I sure hate to stop doing dressage with him. He'll be a fine trail horse, but I had bigger plans. We'll see...

Z and Rio back to Dr Wagner

Great follow-up visit with Dr Wagner. Z has gained some balance and her frogs are much closer to being symmetrical. I was so glad to see a positive change! She did more acupuncture and said that after a day off, she'd be ready for the 30 mile endurance ride. The trailer rides are very good for helping the adjustments hold. Z really seems to enjoy the adjustments! So interesting.

Rio still has hock lameness, unfortunately. We talked about hock fusing and now I know how to perform the Churchill test on a hock. Very educational visit with Dr. Wagner.

Holistic Chiropractor Visit

First, I took a short ride on Z around the property using the Barefoot. This saddle is interesting and it's a lot like riding bareback with stirrups. It doesn't balance you or keep you on, you have to do that yourself. However, it's so comfortable! Z also seems to like it.

Then, Gem, Z and Rio loaded up to see Dr. Wagner. Gem turned out to have a nice report of balance with some tightness associated with his left hock weakness. He's perfectly sound and the dr. decided that anything she'd do would potentially impact the balance he's created for himself.

Z, on the other hand, needed help. She was out of balance and the dr. felt strongly about her poll being locked up. She also tested positive for stomach. Her frogs were very out of balance (each measured at least a qtr. inch different than the others). Apparently, when she's more balanced, her frogs will measure equally. She seemed to enjoy the acupuncture and treatment. I'll be watching to see if she improves.

Kris trimmed Rain and Cowboy. I got Kholo's hinds done. I trimmed one of Rain's fronts and Kris and I compared notes.

I also rode Kholo and practiced isolation of the ends. This seems new to him, but he was beginning to understand the ask.

5 days with Jinita - Day 1

What an amazing start to a new perspective! We talked for a bit and then watched "If Horses Could Speak". A very eye-opening video about the anatomy of a horse and how we, as riders, can get top performance without jeopardizing the horse's physical self.

We then went out and played with some concepts such as riding more forward (to avoid weighting the back farther back where the muscles don't support weight well). We played with the web halter vs the rope halter, to avoid intense pressure on the nucal ligament. We watched how the horse moved with these changes from the ground. They naturally extended the hind legs slightly more and dropped and relaxed their head and neck. Very interesting!! Gem had a decent headset already so I didn't see much of a change when I went to the web halter. The saddle placement was definitely better, though.

We were going to ride next and I decided to start with Z. Well, when I went to the pasture to get her, I noticed Starlet was in a bad way. As I got closer, I saw that her rump had been torn open vertically just under the tail. Oh, poor girl - she was very hurt. I let Z go back to the herd and I led Starlet in to the barn.

I have no idea how she did this. There was no indication in the pasture of a struggle against fencing. We'd had a terrible hail storm and I thought maybe she sustained a kick where a hoof snagged her skin. I just don't know. Regardless, my vet couldn't come for about 5 more hours and instead of finding a different vet sooner, I decided to wait for my tried and trusted Dr. Walters. I didn't treat her besides 2 grams of bute and putting her in the stall with hay and water. I decided to do the rest of the day with Gem since he was already with me and ready to go.

We rode for a bit then and Jinita started to help us address our riding flaws. My big offense: over-riding! This was a little tough for me to understand. We took some video so that she could help me understand. After some discussing and watching the video, I think I realized that my legs are too far forward. Once I started riding with my legs more under me, she became happier with the picture.

It was a neat first day full of information that caused me to rethink my existing views on riding, saddling, and online play. I ended up meeting Tom about 9:30 to get Starlet stitched and we didn't finish until 1:30am. Day 2 was going to be a challenge with a lack of sleep.

Day 2 of Gem Program and a visit with the vet

Zarah has had some interesting behavior on our longer rides (over 7 miles) lately. It's happened twice and had me very concerned. She was starting to try to urinate on the trail, under saddle (odd for her), and repeatedly. She was straining and generally trying to relieve herself of discomfort. I decided, after the 2nd trail ride where she showed the behavior, that I'd better get Tom to look at it. He suspected estrus at first, but I quickly convinced him that I know estrus and this is much different.

He came out and inspected her back. He suspects that the saddle is putting too much pressure on her back over her kidneys! This is a perfectly logical explanation since it was only happening on the longer, more strenuous rides. Darn it! So, I'm going to use a different pad (one of my CSI pads) and see how she does. I'm also hunting for a lighter weight trail saddle for my endurance riding, so I'll ramp up my search and see what I can find. I learned something today and while it occurred to me that it was her back, I was worried that it was something much worse. I'll take my mileage down a notch and try some different tack. We'll see what we get.

AFterwards, Gem and I hauled over to the trail for day 2 of our solo trailriding program. There was a definite improvement today! He was calmer, never once got silly or acted out, and never once (not a single time!) did he call for other horses. I enjoyed this session quite a lot. We worked on some half-passing, sidepassing, lateral bending, canter departs, and then found a spot right near the trail head sign to eat green grass. He was quite comfortable today! I didn't ask him to go down the trail, but I did feel him hesitate when we went to ride near the trail head. He was positive I was going to ask him to do something he didn't want to do. I hope I blew his mind a little when I only asked him to trot in patterns and not go down the trail. This is a fun experiment! For a lark, I did a minute or so of passenger lesson, just to see where he'd go if he had the choice. He walked in the direction of the trailer for about 10 feet, but then he dropped his head for grass. That said to me that he wasn't nervous or dying to get back to the trailer. He was truly comfortable hanging out with me on his back at the trail head.

What will the next session bring? Can't wait to find out.