Red Light, GREEN Light!

Our Rehab/Training schedule these days feels a bit like a school yard game of Red Light/Green Light.  One minute we're in a holding pattern, the next we're back at it....

Prair's check up today was great.  She was a tad stiff starting out, but we experienced that earlier in her rehab and it seems to be a direct result of standing in a stall.  all..... day.... long. 

There was no sign of the weight bearing reluctance on that left front and Prair happily (and evenly) trotted tiny figure eights.

So, the current plan is - back to normal.  Still holding at 2'6", but full work to that point should be good. 

We did discuss her shoeing a bit.  I've had some concerns about how quickly her heels are contracting in the bar shoes, and I know that while the bar provides support... pinched heels cause their own heel pain.. which is counter productive...

Vet agreed, but doesn't want to change anything crazy before a show, so at her next trim, Prair will try normal shoes again, and possibly a shorter trim cycle to try and stay ahead of those heels.. Prior to the bar shoes, our farrier did a really nice job opening her heels up so I'm hopeful that will be a fairly easy process again...

Also, in really, really exciting news - Prair has been CLEARED FOR TURNOUT. 

She won't get to enjoy it until next week since we decided maybe put her back to work for a couple days (get some of the wiggles out) then let the mare go in a (small) paddock and enjoy the sunshine. 

I'm excited for her.  It's been so long. 

Bubble. Wrapped.

One of my profound abilities as a horse owner is to *always* find something to spend dollars on.  Always.

It is my inalienable truth.  Money.  Spend it.

Overlay this with my (totally inaccurate) notion that a horse on stall rest is somehow "saving" me money.

For obvious reasons, this is not the case.  Just because we're not showing doesn't mean we aren't still eating (lots), and racking up vet bills (see previous post) faster than I could ever spend my funds at a show.

Anyway, a compulsion to shop, plus *feeling* like I'm somehow not horrifically over budget means Prairie gets a care package.

Mostly I can blame this one on Supermom, since when having lunch with her last week and listening to me ramble on endlessly about Prair's foot, and omg what about her back, and did you know MRIs are so subjective??? I didn't, but that's horses, does navicular make sense to you? I guess it does to me, but I just don't want to deal with a horrible soft tissue injury.... blah blah blah"

So amid that, somehow she interrupted me and asked if I wast getting my Back on Track wraps on the mare.

And somehow I stopped talking (and eating) long enough to say "huh?  No."

But she had a good idea.  With both the soft tissue strains, and the navicular fragmentation, our challenge is increasing circulation to the area in order to promote healing.

Which.... is just what BoT claims their products help do.  (face smack).

I shot a text to my vet to just make sure she didn't have any concerns with me covering the mare in BoT and then promptly got my ass on SmatPak.

So, Prair is now wearing her BoT Mesh Sheet at night (we already had one of these for her back), and then wearing her new Quick Wraps and Bell Boots during the day (except for when she's walking).  That would give nice BoT coverage for everything we may or may not be concerned about while she's all cooped up.

Naturally I ordered everything in every size and spent the morning down at the barn treating Prair like Cinderella until we sorted it all out.

bubbled.

The mare was convinced that wraps = trailer, so she promptly got all excited and circled around like a crazy lady until I produced a handful of treats.  Baby and I finished grooming the mare to a shine, did some carrot stretches for her back, and then watched some other ponies get worked before heading home.

Prair is scheduled for her second shockwave tomorrow, which I'll miss since I have some meetings, but so far stall rest is going well.  If you didn't know she was on rest, you'd never guess.  She's fat, and shiny and looks like a million bucks.  Also, her brain seems to be doing okay as well.  She's still calm and happy and social in her stall - no signs of craziness or anxiety.

Onward!

First Steps

Sat with the mare yesterday as she got her first shockwaave treatment and was able to pick my vet's brain a bit more regarding our rehab and overall plan.

(slightly sedated)

Mostly this consisted of me asking lots of repetitive questions and my vet patiently tolerating them while she finagled the shockwave head at an awkward angle so it would target the Navicular...

We also discussed the specific plan for Prair for the next 30 days.  First is some special shoeing.  The mare will get reverse shoes up front to get some extra heel support and bring her breakover waaaaaay back.

reverse shoe.  open side toward toe...

Then we discussed how best to maintain some back strength during her layup. Ideally the vet wants Prair jogging nicely for a few minutes a day, but the Eurosizer has mats as footing and there's a scary risk of slippage if we tried to jog her in there.  Lunging is too small of a circle and, well... i don't jog, so jogging in hand isn't an option either.

Finally it seemed best to forgo the jogging and just have 30 minutes of walking in the Eurosizer each day (assuming she stays calm) to break up the stall rest.  Frankly, 30 days isn't that long and I don't think we'll lose too much ground with her back in that time....

So - Funny Shoes.  Daily Walks.  No work.

Sounds like me on maternity leave!

Prair's Left Front (as opposed to "My Left Foot")

Great movie... anyone? No? okay... moving on.

Met the vet Tuesday morning to reinspect Prair's sore tootsie.  Since it's been taking a while for the lameness to present, I tacked the mare up, handed her to an exercise rider (literally, from the track), and stood back to watch.

Maybe not the best person to be in the irons, as she had Prair really running and let her stay heavy in the bridle, but we were getting the job done.  Just about 10 minutes into trotting/running around, Prair started to look a bit guarded on the left front, and even though a head bob wasn't showing, when she changed from the right rein to the left rein there was a marked difference in her way of going.

(for the record, never before have I given the instructions "Ride her till she's lame."  Typically I aim for not that result...lol)

Anyway, I grabbed the vet, who popped in and started watching what we were working with.  Big circles, small circles, changing direction, trot, canter... all that good stuff.  The good news is that the lameness stayed way less pronounced than it was at the show, which the vet thinks helps rule out any major soft tissue damage - the theory being that a serious strain or sprain wouldn't heal significantly in five days off....

That makes sense to me, but I'm also totally willing to accept anything that helps rule out major soft tissue damage... She could be saying "well, there was a Blood Moon (whatever that was) last night, so that really helps rule out major soft tissue damage" and I'd be nodding my head all "totally, yeah, makes sense..."

(so I can't really be trusted in that department).

Anyway, feeling slightly less nauseous about Prair's leg rotting off, we talked about next steps.  Her "most likely" diagnosis is that Prair tweaked her coffin joint (likely landing funny or slipping around, or something similar), and the lameness was presenting as a result of inflammation around that joint, which would explain the increase in lameness with work, why it blocked out in the hoof and also why we weren't seeing any heat or soreness farther up the leg.  Additionally, Prair showing more discomfort when the leg is on the inside suggests an "impact" soreness as opposed to a "push off" soreness which would typically show stronger when the leg was on the outside...

Vet suggested that we x-ray the hoof to rule out any major bone/joint issues and then (assuming nothing weird) inject the coffin joint and give her one more week off.

So we x-rayed.  And everything was really, really pretty.

Part of me always gets nervous taking pictures of what's inside a horse, because if you look hard enough you will always find something... and that makes me a tad queasy.

 a surprisingly cooperative mare...

But, never fear, the x-rays looked great.  No arthritis, no remodeling, the navicular bone looks beautiful, the joints all look balanced and clean.  Her outside wall looked just a tad tall, but not to the point of impacting her lower limb alignment... worth showing to her farrier (I think x-rays always are) but not much of a correction to be made.

The only thing we did see on the x-ray, was a confirmation of what the Vet mentioned when we were poking and prodding - which was a slight swelling right above the cornet band, in the middle of the hoof.  She said that fluid there indicates inflammation in the hoof capsule, often without any heat associated with it.  It was impossible to see, but a few pokes of the finger could tell that the left front was just barely squishier than the right front in the same spot.

The x-ray showed this "squishiness" as a slight bulge right about the cornet.  the pic isn't the best since I took a phone picture, of the x-ray... on a laptop.  (a picture of an image of a picture... how esoteric).

I don't even want to talk about how long it took me to get an arrow on this picture.

We didn't ultrasound since Vet confirmed what my internet readings had said - which is that it can be rather tricky to ultra sound that low on the limb with any certainty, and that an MRI would do a more reliable job of identifying any issues....  Since we don't currently think we have a *major* soft tissue injury, she suggested that we wait and see if more diagnostics become necessary before going down the MRI road...

To sum up:

We don't *think* it's major soft tissue.  (but we can't say with 100% certainty)

We *know* it's not in the bones (the x-ray helped that, though that doesn't rule out some sort of bruising...)

And we are proceeding under the assumption that we are dealing with a tweak (or minor soft tissue) that should resolve itself in short order.  The injection should help get rid of the inflammation immediately, she'll stay on some anti-inflams for the week to help finish that job, and will be getting 30 minutes of Eurosizer or hand walking until we attempt to resume full work next Tuesday.

All in all, a pretty good update, not too scary and hopefully we are back to normal in no time!

Vet Visit and Morning Update

So, after a couple hours of not-that-productive work at the office I headed back to the show grounds to meet the vet and poke Prairie a little more.

When I arrived, it appeared that the mare was thoroughly enjoying her light duty day and thought that 8:15am was exactly the right time to be done with braids and showing for the day.

Snoozey Mare says she's taking a sabbatical 

When the vet got there, we threw her on the lunge and the slight head bob was about as apparent as it had been in her flat class (that is to say, noticeable, but not holy-shit-someone-call-a-doctor bad).  Prair then decided to be absolutely uncooperative and played her "lunge? how do you lunge?" game which involves her politely scooting her butt away every time you try to start her up.

Great yielding of the haunch, but totally terrible lunging manners.

What a brat.

We moved her onto the concrete to see a smaller circle on hard ground and her no-lungey antics got worse, to the point that I was thinking if something wasn't wrong before, something would be soon if all the scrambling and chasing on cement kept up...

Fortunately nothing bad happened, we finally got a couple trot circles out of the mare (yup, still lame) and then moved on.

Our vet didn't feel an elevated pulse, but she rechecked with hoof testers anyway and got the same result of nothing.  She also didn't see or feel any obvious injuries higher on the leg and Prair didn't react to any palpation.

Her first assumption is that we're dealing with a stone bruise, or a weird tweak.  Apparently a stone bruise (or bruise from overreaching) can sometimes not show up with hoof testers, but still be sore from the concussion of impact.  I've never heard that explanation, but it kinda made sense and I so desperately wanted to hear "stone bruise" and not "soft tissue" that I nodded enthusiastically and hoped that was the case.

Without any other sensitivities or symptoms, we moved on to blocking the foot in order to see if that erased our mystery lameness.

It did.

And I should have videoed the second lunge session because HOLY HUGE TROT, Prair got all excited about something and was floating around like a magician.  It took a minute for her adrenaline to wear off, but when she resumed a (more) normal trot, the head bob was gone and she seemed perfectly fine.

So, the vet left us with instructions to wrap the hoof overnight (why not) and see how she looked in the am.  Vet thought there was a 50% chance she'll turn up sound on her own in a day or two and a 50% chance this little lameness lingers, in which case we'll wait until next week for further diagnostics to try and pinpoint what's going on.

She was pretty adamant that given the schedule of events (crash friday, sound for long days sat and sun, day off monday, lame tues) that it's highly unlikely that Prair did something crazy during that stumble on Friday.

She thinks it's more likely she found the one rock in the warm up ring, or stepped on something during her hand walk monday, or just took a funny step.  I like when she says things like that, so I'm ignoring other, scarier possibilities until I can't....

SO, this morning - Prair was apparently sound on the lunge (!!!!!) which is great news. I'm scratching her from the remaining Pre Green classes, since she doesn't need to jump 3' and there's no reason to chase points or anything else.  The plan is to potentially add her into some 2'6"ish stuff this afternoon if she warms up 100%.  I don't want to work her super hard, but we do want to get her moving and see if it represents or not. If she's not off, she definitely needs to get out of that show-stall and move her tootsies around a little.

Obviously we'll be super conservative, the point is to have a long term sound horse, not collect a couple extra ribbons in an open 2'6" class.

So that's the gig.  Feeling cautiously optimistic that perhaps this was something simple and stupid, but only time will tell!

Pushing Together

The big challenge (both literally and figuratively) with Prair is getting her to lift her back and collect her frame.  Between her long conformation and history of pain associated with really using her back - the mare really prefers to just let everything hang like a hammock and call it good.


But getting that lift through the back and wither is not only necessary for good balance and jumps - it's imperative in keeping Prair strong and sound.

Old photo since I lack any really evidence of recent lessons.

As such, pretty much every aspect of our ride, from warm up to cool down is focused on encouraging the mare to round up, lift her back and use herself.


The first exercise, which I know we've talked about before starts with our walking on a loose rein just ambling around the ring.  I ask for a nice round halt, get Prair soft and very deep in the neck, then rein back as slow and straight as possible asking her to roll her spine up.  Then we halt again, (she usually sighs) and we walk on trying to maintain the same shape and softness.


Eventually this routine works up into the trot and when I've got a fairly responsive, light horse in our transitions we begin focusing on other work.


All our lateral work is done with the emphasis on stretching her over her back and really reaching with whatever hind leg is doing the most work.  Often I'll drop Prair's headset lower than normal in order to emphasize the stretch and to make sure that she's not binding up in her jaw or neck.


We spend a good amount of time alternating every 5-7 strides of asking Prair to move out in more of a medium trot, and then "pushing together" into a short, collected trot.  Inevitably at this point the first few transitions are a bit heavy and on the forehand, but as we go she sits back more, lifts through her wither and becomes more adjustable.


The same exercise is repeated at the canter, along with some very slight lateral work, and then (if all is well) we start working over fences.  In our last couple lessons we have been trying to maintain balance and relaxation at all costs.  So, if while on course I need a circle to get everything 100% where I want it, we circle.  If I need to trot and re-establish our rhythm, we trot.  Whatever we need to keep each jump slow, steady and round.


Yesterday we spent almost all of our time trotting the fences to keep Prair from using her momentum instead of her back.  It was really good for me as well as I had a better chance to keep her straight and balanced and light to the fences.  I was shocked by not only how much I was getting snapped out of the tack, but also by how quickly Prair was willing to roll up her back, balance and come back after each fence.


It felt awesome



Of particular note was in a 4 stride line that we trotted into (planning on getting a quiet 5), I really misjudged our stride length and while I thought we had room to cram a fifth stride in, Prair did not and we launched.  I slipped my reins and let her go which resulted in a terrified, inverted, llama when we landed on the far side.


I braced for impact and got ready to pulley rein her around, but turns out, as I added my leg, Prair pushed together, softened like butter and dropped right back to her round, happy canter. (whaaaaaaa?)


Usually it's not the ugliest fence of the day that you're most proud of, but seeing that response from her was a little magical and really inspiring.


N keeps saying that she never really understood how hard Prair tried to please and how well she responds to praise and reward - but it's becoming really clear that the more we emphasize the rewards, the quicker Prairie is giving us what we want.


The mare is really working hard for both of us in our rides and that just makes everything so damn fun.


Which I suppose is what this silly hobby is supposed to be.


Oh, also - Prair got her feet done for the first time by the new farrier, and aside from freaking out and breaking her halter (ugh), I am extremely happy with his work.  He set her heels nice and wide and each foot looks well balanced.

Gus' Fancy Shoe

On the recommendation of both my vet and my farrier I ordered Gussie one (1) fancy shoe to try.

I think I mentioned it in a previous post, but we are seeing what happens when Gus puts on the Denoix Suspensory Support Shoe from grand circuit.  It's not that expensive ($20), so I think it's worth a go.  In theory the shoe is designed to help float the toe a bit and reduce a "stabby" motion on a leg that has reduced range of motion in the lower limb.

oooooh shiny.

I'm not sure it's going to be like Cinderella's slipper and cause princes and birds and fair godmothers to show up, but if it helps him move more comfortably, well then, why the hell not.

Honestly, as much as I've tried to educate myself on hoof care and hoof shape and trimming, I know literally nothing about specialty shoes or how they do what they claim to do.  I'll make it a point to ask my farrier some questions as he's attaching it to Gus' toostie and report back.

A Gus Update (The Swamp Thang Returns)

Mr Gus hasn't had much int he way of face time on the blog recently, but never fear! He is sturdy and stout and weathering winter well.

Gus grows an insane amount of hair.  Basically this means he has recently pumped out 40lbs of mane that has knotted and matted and thatched itself into a very efficient roof for his neck during the muddy rainy season.

Underneath that Thatched Roof, is a big pile of fluffy fur that has been keeping Gus warm, fat and pretty happy.  Even though the pasture grass is dead and muddy, somehow the creature is... gaining weight?  For all of his old man issues, keeping weight on him certainly isn't one.  I think the guy gets chubby just looking at food.

I went out Sunday for an extended hang with the big guy. He got his legs washed (still fungus free!) and his tail scrubbed (also massive and heavy and in need of a cleaning..) as well as a steam clean on his face where cakes his fur with the green-slimy-goo that grows on the fences

He seemed to enjoy his currying and spa treatments though I didn't really think through the whole "dry time" issue and we ended up riding with wet legs and tail which undid a chunk of the cleaning process.. dammit.

The ride was nice though!  Gus felt pretty good for Gus.  Certainly not as sound as he was last spring when he went to his show, but better than the Summer/Fall '13 lame-a-palooza.

We walked for about 15 minutes, whereby I could feel him stabbing the toe on the RF but he had no head bob and felt very forward and enthusiastic (which is definitely missing when he's uncomfy).

Then we trotted for 5 minutes.  I returned to a walk for the corners/ short side when we were traveling left (and his limp is more pronounced) but he felt pretty good and remarkably even on the straightaways!

Finally I played with a little canter.  Nervous about his RF I stuck mostly to the left lead, and only cantered our long sides, returning to the walk for the corners.  Gus felt good.  He was soft, and round and very willing.  I did canter on the right lead a couple of times, though he was slightly reluctant to pick up the lead so I didn't push it.

Finally we walked on a long rein again for a few minutes, shoved his face full of peppermints and called it a day.

Due to the... extra insulation Gus has acquired, I swapped his medium for a clean sheet and tucked him into his stall for the night.

I'm going out today to see if the ride had any affect at all on his current level of lameness or if he's just as comfy.  Fingers crossed, I'm hoping he's stabilized and okay to stay in some work.

Also, Farrier is out next week and suggested that we try a specialty shoe traditionally used for old suspensory injuries.  Both he and my vet have had good experiences with it for horses with a reduced range of motion (like Gus).  And since his scar tissue all seems to be on that suspensory/annular I'm thinking it may be applicable.

Gotta love a Gus! Man he is cute...

2013 In Rewind

I've discovered that one thing I love doing with this blog is looking back month by month and recapping what the heck happened with me, the beasts and our time together.

Therefore, I present to you, 2013 in a Reader's Digest format.

January

January saw us set some goals, and hang out in the rain.

Pia was relatively well behaved and a few visits from Supermom meant we not only got pictures, but we got to take a trail ride too.

The P, bitless

Trail Time

P2 Beak.

Prairie continued her jumping education with a field trip to try some courses away from home, along with another field trip for a Dressage reminder which was fun. 

Also, The Boy rode Gus for the first time and I loved every second of it.

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February

We pretended to focus on Dressage, Prair and S had several lessons with our favorite other trainer, Pia started acting out again and I decided that a traditional training barn was just not going to be good for her.

Prairie had her first show of the season and started with a Championship in her 3' Pre-Greens.  It was a month of ups and downs.

feeding treats at the Back Gate

Strengthening our Trot

The Girls out together

March

We got Gus and presented him to M2.  Gus was officially the cutest thing since sliced bread loved every minute of the extra attention

Pia made the move out of the barn and back to a happier turnout situation while Prair's feet got sore and I contemplated putting some shoes on the mare.  Also, my Dad made an epic tack trunk and the month closed out with both Prair and Gus at a show.  (Gus won his WT classes with a kiddo)

Gus, M2.  M2, meet Gus.

swoon

two black ponies sitting in the shade

Handsome Gus.

April

Prairie got front shoes, and promptly tried to rip them off/shove clips up her hoof wall. She also put on some big girl panties and hauled up to an A show for schooling day.  Remarkably she held her gerbils together and handled the whole thing pretty well.  I made the mistake of actually counting how many saddles I owned (too many) but somehow justified ordering the CWD anyway (oops!). Pia settled into her new routine, put some weight back on and started resuming her happier mare behavior.  Finally, we closed out the month at a totally horrid, rainy terrible schooling show.  Prair was great, but we didn't place well.  hence we called it a "moral victory"

schooling with the big kids

complaining about her new shoes

loving her new life.

Happy Birthday/xmas/everything to me

May

We bopped around a fun C show, and Prair collected a lot of loot.  I decide that there are perks to showing in Hunter Land, and the number of ribbons is one of them.

Gus turned 16 and celebrated with lots of treats and presents, and also by turning up lame (well, lamer).

I agonize over whether or not to keep Prair in shoes (I do) and we have a mostly successful rest of the month.


June

The CWD arrived (and didn't fit), Prair's right shoulder got tight again and nothing was working perfectly.

But went to our first Week Long A show and, well... learned a lot.  Prairie was mostly insane for the first few days but calmed down by the time the weekend rolled around.  I learned maybe Perfect Prep isn't a horrid thing.

Somehow we still got two championships

When we got home I started the great boot hunt of 2013 and pulled Prairie's shoes.

July

The Boots. OH THE BOOTS.  I tried all.the.boots.

We pick a pair (finally) and get back to work.

I go a little nutso and put brass tags on everything.

We head to another A show, collect a few more Tri-Colors (though in novelty colors, grrr) and feel great about our progress.

I find out I have to miss our August show due to a surgery (BOOO HISSS) and that's about it.

August

I turn 30.  Obviously I use the occasion to act like I'm still 22 and dance my ass off surrounded by friends and family

Prair shows without me and does pretty decently at her first AA show.  At some point I gave her hind shoes (and drilled for studs) so she had some grip on the grass.  She seemed to like it.

I have a slight panic about having not ridden a single Dressage Test so we find one last schooling show to hit and enjoy the outing (though Prair acts like a Dragon the whole time).

it was really.pretty.

I went to visit P and she reminded me how pretty and nice she is when I don't lock her in a stall all the time.

September

We move up to 2'9" at our next show and win.every.class in our Hunter Division.  Who would have predicted that six months ago!?  The win comes with our first COOLER.  We get a second COOLER in the Pre-Greens and Prair squeaks out a respectable 3rd in the "big" Classic with S.

2'9"!

I torture myself by riding bareback (semi) regularly and I torture Prair with some spinal injections.

The injections and shockwave made her significantly more comfortable and we start to see the "new and improved" Prairie complete with more relaxation, muscling on her back and all sorts of good things.

Gus' prolonged lameness finally erupts in a massive abscess and he gets (more) stall rest.

Prair and I jump 4'3" and don't die, we mentally commit to Thermal and enjoy a weekend clinic with who will be our regular trainer in 2014.

October 

Prairie continues her shockwave treatment.

I pretend that i'm going to commit to the two-point challenge but really only do it one day.

We head to the Eq Finals and win another cooler (!!?)  Though we had a few disappointments (including not having seen the "test" for the medal finals on our course map)

A good friend from college visits and rides Gus in a lesson with me.

Gus continues to be lame(ish) so we walk, and walk, wand walk

and I decide to clean out unused horse things from my garage.  Though I have totally failed to ship any of it - though I SWEAR I will.  soon!! (in fairness I did say that the ups store/post office is my least favorite place ever)

November 

We find out that Prair won a year end award, though we politely decline to travel to the USHJA meeting to claim it.

The Boy and I find out I'm pregnant, (which starts to explain a lot of things...) and I start thinking about what the means for the horses.

It definitely means I'm out most of the show season for 2014, so I look at my 2013 goals and decide I better sneak in one more show and try the 3' AA's.

I do.  Without a coach, or really any preparation and we get our butts kicked by juniors but Prairie is Really Good.

December

I officially decide to move Prairie to a new program, though I agonize over what the right decision is.

Knowing that no matter what, the kiddo is going to significantly reduce pony time, I relish in easy, lazy hacks and try to enjoy the mare still being close enough to see 5 days a week.

Gus is miraculously sound in the super-cold-weather and enjoys being worked again.

I commit to a new barn, Thermal and draining my bank account, all the while loving every second of this crazy little adventure with Prair.

Holy Crap we did a lot in 2013.

Here's to another wild and crazy year filled with what I'm sure will be even more surprises!