Sorting Out Sunny

I was excited to have the clinician stay through to Monday because I was eager to get Sunny looked at too. With his silicosis and obvious neck issues, I was hoping that she could give me some information about him.

Not sure what we were talking about
but he's so cute!

Just like with TC, she worked on him for a while on the ground with the bodywork. Sure enough, Sunny has some pretty significant nerve pain in his neck! This is something I’ve been suspecting due to his weird behavior. He is so protective of himself and he has random explosions, especially after jumps, that feel like he’s been stung by a bee or something. He has this panic button that gets hit in those explosions and he feels terrified in the moment. 

She did a bunch of work to help him out but she thinks he has some neck arthritis going on that will probably always affect him. That’s most likely due to the silicosis. She didn’t think that he was impossible though, she thinks that we can fix the explosions for sure, he’s just going to need some help. 

I only have potato quality screenshots from his
ride because the person with the nicest phone had
to run! But any video is appreciated

I got on and what a difference between Sunny and TC. I could tell that Sunny felt better, but TC was way less protective than Sunny was. I had to take a lot longer to help Sunny find the softness and the posture that TC just gave me the moment I implied that it would be a nice thing for him to do. 

But when he did start to let go, he felt SO good. Sunny has always had kind of a clunky way of moving. He’s not a big mover and doesn’t have a lot of suspension, so you’d think he was smooth to sit, but he’s kind of not. 

He felt so much looser than he normally does

Now though, he felt smooth to sit! I encouraged him to lengthen his step, something he’s not really been able to do, and he was hesitant but did end up lengthening his stride a bit! Good pony! 

He was not nearly as excited as TC was, but that’s okay. I sent the video to my mom and she said “he looks more comfortable” and he really did seem that way. He seemed a little happier and a little more relaxed, which was great to see and feel in him. Not everyone is going to be a drama queen like TC I suppose. 

Such a good pony

I’m super excited to keep doing the same work with him and to see how he feels. I figure if we stick to it through the winter, maybe he’ll feel good enough to jump in the spring without exploding. If I can swing it, I’ll ride remotely with her on him too to just keep an eye on his progress.