All sunshine and roses except for a very small voice in the back of my head that's nagging at me. The only slight cloud in our sunshiney sky is that Prair is tight in her Right Shoulder again. It's not really something you can feel when you're going to the right, but when you change from the left rein there's a distinct... shift in her way of going when she swaps to a right bend. It's extremely subtle and she's not "off" per se, but that right rein gets heavier and that right shoulder is less mobile.
I'm wondering if it's really a left hind issue and that's why it's harder to lift/move that right shoulder but I can't tell. She seems to load her left willingly in shoulder-in, square turns, etc. but when just trotting to the right it feels like she's diving down a little bit more than normal on the right rein.
I don't feel it in the canter unless we are landing from a jump into a fairly immediate corner. Then she wants to veer around the turn like a motorcycle instead of stepping under and politely rounding the corner. Her flying changes are evening out so there's no longer a huge discrepancy in not getting the L to R change... no other clues. Legs are cool and tight, feet are happy. Heels are supports. She was a itty bit back sore last week, but that has dissipated while the shoulder thing has remained...
In point of fact, I think it feels very similar to last September when Prair was "rein lame" for lack of a better diagnosis. Our only proactive solution was to loosen her noseband, loosen my reins and be sure to gallop the mare out every once in a while to stretch her limbs and encourage more relaxation. It did seem to help, so maybe we just need another course of deliberate loosey-goosey rides.
The Vet is already scheduled for the 21st so unless something gets more pronounced I'll wait for that. I have a feeling Prair is all bound up from bracing against my hand during out tug-o-wars but who knows.
Aside from that little unevenness, all is well.
We had a great jump school yesterday which included adding strides in some lines as well as moving up to the big kid distances. Prair was moderately adjustable until the end of the ride when she opted to just pilot herself around so we had a discussion and finished on a collected canter and using square turns for all of our corners.
Do you do acupuncture or chiro with her? I have found that really, really helps when Tucker is tight through his shoulders. Just food for thought.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you have a good plan. I hope that prair doesn't get any worse and the vet can offer some insight.
ReplyDeleteYup, listen to your gut. It's interesting, sometimes I wish I was a little less in tune to my horse's soundness and could just bop around willy nilly, la-di-dah, haha. But, I'm thankful I can detect the little stuff too. Pong had similar 'symptoms' to that when his hock was bugging him. Diving in on the left shoulder, a teensie bit 'hitchy', stiff through the neck. They tell us the best they can :)
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