Rico's Tough Weekend

Rico had quite the weekend! He's fine by the way, just had a tough time. 

Clipped part of his neck is an abscess

Last week I had to call the vet for Rico because he had a lump on the right side of his neck and was struggling to put his head down low enough to eat his food. The vet thought it was scar tissue from his vaccines and advised me to give him bute for 3-4 days to help with the pain as he worked through it. It worked, and then he went back on his normal equioxx. We thought his body would kind of break up that knot of scar tissue over time, but then on Friday morning it was ENORMOUS. 

The vet came back again. We clipped it and ultrasounded it, turns out it's a HUGE abscess. It was 2.5cm in from his skin, so we couldn't drain it yet. So I was advised to put him back on bute, keep his food higher off the ground, and then just wait. She told me what to look out for and so every day I've been squishing it lightly, waiting for there to be a softer part of it so that we can drain it. She thought it'd take 1-2 weeks. Hopefully it won't be too long. 

It was definitely caused by the flu/rhino vaccine that we gave him a while back, and this is only the second time in her whole career she's seen a vaccine do this. Of course it had to happen to my horse who is almost 30 years old, and who needs all the calories he can get so can't be not able to eat. 

Speaking of calories

Then on Saturday morning, I get a text saying to come down ASAP because Rico is fully losing his mind about something in the hills. 

Apparently he refused to eat or drink all night long and hadn't eaten his breakfast (although he'd gotten some water into him). By the time I got down there, we were debating taking him to the vet clinic to get him away from whatever was scaring him and maybe put him on an IV. Again he can't just NOT eat with this abscess and with the vet wanting him to gain a smidge of weight before winter. 

I pulled his haynet out of his stall and took it down to the part of the pasture he seemed to be happiest in. Then also brought out a bucket of water to hang for him. We were able to get him to eat soaked grain (so that he got some water into him) and eventually he did start to nibble at his hay and drink some water. 

TC says WHAT ABOUT ME, also yes he's muddy

Jealous

Throughout the day, we'd bring him more hay, grain, and water and he slowly started to calm down more and more. And probably felt better because he wasn't so hungry. 

TC stayed nearby, although it was because he thought that we were just having a super cool picnic in the pasture and he was mad that he wasn't invited to eat any of the food. I did end up bringing his lunch down for him to eat by Rico, as well as a bucket of water for him so that he'd be encouraged to stay with Rico. 

TC thought that was SUPER fun, even when Rico stole his hay.

TC's version of sneering is so wholesome

That night, we fed them both out there and filled the water buckets too. Rico slowly got more and more comfortable over the course of the weekend, he hasn't yet gotten into the stall except to eat a little bit of grain, but TC has kept him company in his picnic area with them both continuing to be fed and watered out there. He at least seems calmer now and TC is being a good companion for him, sticking close. I'm still not sure what he saw up the hill or what happened when he was last in his stall, we checked the cameras and there's nothing that makes it seem like anything serious happened.

Hopefully Rico continues to feel better and hopefully his abscess is getting ready to be drained soon. Poor guy deserves to feel his best! I'm at least glad that we don't have a lot of rain in the forecast, luckily he can hang out in the pasture for a while longer. 

Forward and Back

TC's rehab keeps plugging along. He is now still at 12 minutes of trot, but we're doing it in 1 minute increments. My plan is to take that up to maybe a minute and a half or two minutes, then start adding more intervals until he's closer to 15 minutes of trot. THEN I think we'll experiment with canter.

In the mean time, I've started getting a little more demanding on the trot work. He likes to do this forward and back exercise in trot, so I introduced that again this week and he's been having fun with it. I think it helps because it encourages him to find his balance in the slower trot, then push out of that slower trot into a bigger trot, then back again. Lots of rewarding for going when I ask and also slowing down without stopping. And working all those muscles that will hopefully keep him happily moving forward when I finally get on him. 

Like I worry about him a bit and then
I get this photo of the lengths he will
go to in order to get a sprig of grass

I wish he'd pack on muscle a little faster, it's easy to overthink with how slowly things are going right now. I do think that things are getting *slightly* better on that front. When he's moving, I can see him using the right muscles, and when he's standing, only sometimes does he look really decrepit (vs all the time). But then he'll shift his weight and look like a rescue case. 

More of the work I described above should help, as well as adding canter. I think that's going to make a big difference. I've been avoiding it because it was such a tough thing for him before, canter is his hardest gait and especially when he's under muscled. He has a HUGE canter, and when he was young and also when he was in rehab for his suspensory, he struggled a lot with it. So I want to do as much as I can in the trot to build the muscle he needs to support him in the canter. 

Walking out after working

After being locked in, on Tuesday he came out a little less comfortable. I think he was just stiff. He definitely worked out of it and looked the best he's looked by the end of the session, so that was promising! But I am still seeing the tiniest amount of shortness in his left hind. 

Since we're a couple of weeks out from the injections, I would have expected that to have improved more if it were his left hock. So I feel good about ruling that out as the cause of the minor diagonal imbalance in his body. I'm still considering getting his neck injected with the remaining Alpha2 in February, and I think I may see whether we have enough to also do his left stifle. It ultrasounded totally fine at our initial vet appointment in September, but I figure it can't hurt. It's been a problem for almost the entire time I've owned him and we never really got answers about it. That's another body part I'd be super cool to inject the hell out of to keep this horse happy!

Missing the trails, it'll be a little bit before we get
to go up there again

But outside of that, he really does seem to be doing better. I think being locked in made him happier to work. He was pretty forward aside from being stiff, and he seems a little more interested in his work. The bit flexions are going well too! 

I think what I'm waiting for now is to see improvement in his back. I think I could do better work undersaddle, but only if I have a saddle that fits him. And that will only happen when his back isn't so sunken in. I'm not sure what the threshold is going to be, but I know I'm not there yet. I'm definitely considering quite a bit how I want to handle putting a saddle on him. On the one hand, I want something that fits him *very* well so that he isn't uncomfortable at all due to the saddle, but I'm also skeptical about buying him something new knowing very well that he might not make it out of this rehab rideable in the way that I'd want him to be if I were buying him a new saddle. 

I have a couple of saddles that seem to fit him okay, so I may get him a very nice half pad with the ability to shim it and just try longeing him in it for a little bit. See if he'll tell me yes or no on the longe line so that I don't have to get on him and reinforce the balking again. But that's pretty far down the line I expect! 

Ride, Drag, Roll, Repeat

We had a lot of rain on Thursday last week, 2.25 inches all on one day. It was our first large storm of the season, and another 2+ inches came in over the weekend. 

He misses the tracks and so do I

I'd mentioned a while back that my arena had been damaged by the rain. So I've become pretty obsessed with preparing it for each storm, and so far it's held up really well this winter! 

When I know that rain is coming, I'll make sure that all the drainage spots in the arena (where the water flows under the kick boards) are clear. It usually involves shoveling sand back into the arena and then shoveling some pathways away from the arena so that the water doesn't get stuck behind the kick boards and start traveling down to that corner rather than out of the arena. 

It's road walking season

Then I drag the arena "hamburger" style, so that any tractor marks that are left go across the arena toward the short side rather than down the arena (I guess "hotdog" style lol). Sometimes even after I roll it, water still finds the drag tracks to wander down. 

And finally, I roll the arena. I've been experimenting a bit with how much rolling is necessary. One pass seems to get 80% of the way there, so if it's a small storm, I stick with that. But for this large storm, the arena got two passes, and that was really great!

Not bad!

He was happy to go down the road

On Friday after that storm, I dragged the arena and it was super rideable!! Way improved from the maybe three days it used to take to recover from a storm like that. So I got TC out to work. 

Side note: he was really good! He actually did very well with his bit flexions that day, fighting me a lot less and doing a lot of releasing. And then the work in the arena was quite good. He seemed to be glad for some entertainment, since the horses get locked in from their pastures and just have access to their (quite large) paddocks. 

I was super impressed with how well the arena held up! Even if the weather changed over the course of the day and it turned out that literally on Saturday morning at 6am, we were set to get another storm. So I dragged the arena, rolled it, and shoveled the sand out from the drainage areas. 

Then on Saturday the weather changed AGAIN so it wasn't going to rain until 3pm. Because I'm so dedicated to this rehab, I trudged down there, dragged the arena, long lined him, then dragged again and sealed it back up. 

I don't mind the roads too much!

Finally Sunday it was too wet to want to work in it! So instead, we walked down the road. It was my first time riding him down the road in a long time, I had been avoiding it due to the mechanical laminitis he had shown in his first x-rays. It was also the first time I had put the bridle on him in a while too! We just walked, no real work, so I don't know how the bit flexions are helping yet. But it felt like just a normal thing to do with him again, which I think we both appreciated. 

Luckily once I came back down on Tuesday, the arena was good enough to use! Pretty good to make it through 4+ inches of rain and only lose one planned riding day. 

TC's Struggles with Bits

TC has always had kind of a weird thing with bits. Undersaddle he is entirely quiet in the mouth, I've never had him chew on the bit excessively or stick his tongue out. He's never been super frothy, like Rico would always have some foam around his lips, but he's also always carried the bit quietly. 

He's definitely got a sensitive mouth though - I've had him dislike bits. But his dislike of bits was more about the bits being too much bit for him, resulting in him retracting away from them. 

He's been very hard to connect to the bridle and often times you'll push him to the contact and he just misses it or ducks behind it, or sits slightly on top of it. It's like trying to thread a needle so you can sew your nieces' halloween costumes when the older one (five years old) is there thinking that she's being kind but it's coming across as really condescending as she tells you that it's actually really hard to thread a needle and that she thinks you're doing a really good job.

TC loves visiting Rico, Rico mostly
wants to bite TC

Anyway, I found a bit years ago that he seemed to like - a NS Turtle Top. He's gone pretty well in it, of all the bits I've had him in, he seemed happy to connect to this one the most. 

But, and this isn't unique to this bit, he still positively gnashes on it when he's in the cross ties. From the moment I put the bridle on until I start leading him out of the cross ties, the horse is just going to town on it. And every time he has a dental, we notice that he has a bit of a callus on I think the right side of his mouth. A few years ago, my vet asked to see his bridle on him and recommended that I raise the bit in his mouth, so I did. Didn't help. 

It's tough because like... he's fine to ride. He's always been a very impatient horse in the cross ties too, like when he was young, he seemed to get more relaxed the faster I tacked him up because he was so eager to get going. At least that's how I interpreted it. 

I took the pony up the hill yesterday

When I started his rehab schedule this fall, I did it in the rope halter, mostly because it was quick to throw on him. Then, when I switched to long lining, I put his bridle on and was reminded about the weirdness in the cross ties with the bit. So I stuck that on the back burner and swapped him to my longeing cavesson. 

But I did want to make a plan to figure out the bit stuff, so on Tuesday this week, I decided to take a remote lesson from Kate so that I could learn the bit flexions she had been talking about. I'm deep in amateurdom these days, rather than doing my own research and deciding how to handle this, I decided to just have Kate help me and tell me what to do instead! I love this chapter of my life with horses. 

Visiting the fallen tree from below

We discovered some super interesting things about TC vs his bit.

We started with just me holding my hands on the bit and waited for him to relax for a second. TC likes to make his tongue super hard/tense and yank the bit backward toward his teeth, then he chomps down on it. So even getting him to settle for a moment was tough for him. 

Next was to flatten the bit in his mouth and again wait for acceptance. Either in that he chews lightly, keeping his tongue soft and just mobilizing his lower jaw (not the top of his face), or by being still. But not frozen, just still. This we both struggled with. He really pulls the bit backwards, so I was trying really hard to keep the bit flat and not let him pull it so much, and in doing so, I was bracing against the bit, which is not what I want HIM to do either. 

He did actually yawn once when we were doing this step so that was great! And after that, we noticed that he seemed to have longer periods of time where he'd settle and have his mouth quiet while holding the bit.

And after we passed it

The final step, for now at least, was to do basic poll flexions to the right and then to the left. This was when TC said oh no thank you. To the right, he offered me folding at the base of his neck rather than flexing the poll, he also threw his head a lot, yanked me side to side, and nearly clocked me on the face. Eventually though, we got some small moments of relaxation/releasing, so we took that. 

To the left he was a little less wanting to fold his neck, but was still quite reluctant and offered me an odd head tilt instead of a flexion. He also bit me, which was annoying, but I was reminded to not feed my arms to him. We did get an okay moment on that side so we called it a day. My homework is to continue doing this with him until it gets easier/better! And then we'll revisit and see if we can progress further. 

He was a very good boy up there

I'm super grateful to have had this lesson, I think it's good timing to address this while I'm not needing to ride him/longe him in the bit. I'm super curious how much this will help him. Again, he's not bad in the contact, but he is weird. Is he weird because he lacks this education? Or because he's just weird? Or because he has some odd neck stuff going on? All three options? Either way I think spending 15-30 minutes working on these flexions with the bit every day before we go out to long line will be time well spent. 

So we'll see how that goes in the future! I'm hopeful that he will improve, even if it's just so that he annoys me a little less in the cross ties when I put his bridle on (the chomps are so aggressive, it's like nails on a chalkboard).

On the Trails

For the last few years, a lot of my riding on TC has been on the trails at the ranch. It was the one place where we enjoyed each others' company pretty consistently. When he was last in work, I had him trail riding 2x per week, riding in the arena 2x per week, and doing groundwork/turnout 1x per week, plus his normal 2x days off each week. 

Trail ride!

This summer, I stopped trail riding him because he seemed to not enjoy it as much. It's a pretty steep hill to get up to our small trail system, and there is not a lot of flat ground up there. You basically climb a steep hill, then it's rolling hills around a loop, then you climb down the steep hill. When we climbed up the hill, he'd stop a lot and it was a lot of work to just get him to the point where the trails started to roll a bit more. Then climbing down the hill, he's always walked very slowly. 

In addition, this fall, we had a tree fall across one of the trails, and there were a few more trees that were deemed at risk of falling. So I had to avoid the trails anyway! The tracks have some good hills (not nearly as steep, but not nothing), so I switched to those with both horses (I'm also riding the pony a few days a week). But that was resolved last week, so the trails are now available again. 

Where the tree came down, it sucks
because it was one of my favorite
parts of the trail

Looking down at the fallen tree

On Monday, the day after we went back to his long lining, it was like 85 degrees at the ranch. That's normally not too bad (it's a dry heat), but TC has a full winter coat. The idea of working him in the arena just seemed rude. But it was a little windy, and the trails are mostly shaded, so I decided to see what he'd think about going up there. 

We started down on the tracks to get a good warm up going, and he was pleasantly forward. Not marching along, but I didn't have to keep pushing him (which is really what annoys me, I don't mind moseying along on the tracks/trails). Then heading up the hill, he only stopped twice, which wasn't nearly as much as he used to. I'll take that as a win! 

Happy boy, watching our first set
of deer

Once in the hills, I was reminded of why I love it so much up there. The trails have brought me a lot of unexpected joy now that I've boarded at the ranch for so long. Every other facility I've boarded at, I've had to haul out to go on the trails, so it was a whole ordeal. Now I can just hop on bareback in the rope halter and head out! 

The rope halter wasn't such a great idea. We have a lot of deer who live in the hills. Each trail ride, we see at least one little family, but usually two or three, sometimes more. When TC goes up there all the time, he can handle it just fine, but when it's been a while, TC has a very strict deer quota. 

Seeing deer on the hill

Left ear is focused on another set of deer

The thing about deer is that they are a little afraid of us, especially when they haven't seen us for a long time. And so they trot away from us. At first, TC watches them like oh hey my friends, wonder why they are nervous. 

But the more deer that trot away from us, the more that TC considers that maybe the reason why they are doing this is that there is a terrible invisible and completely silent monster who is just behind him that they are afraid of. Because it doesn't make sense that they are just afraid of HIM. And why would he turn around to check that there is no monster there when he could just try to join them. 

Anyway, I was reminded of the deer quota when we saw our fourth pair of deer. They darted away from us and I could feel inside TC the desire to leave, and I was very aware that I had extremely limited brakes. 

Heading back on the tracks to the barn!

But he handled it very well and stayed with me. Honestly, probably just because it was so hot! Definitely going to break out the hackamore for trail rides if I insist on doing them bitless. 

We headed down the hill and he definitely took very careful steps heading down. I feel like it's schrodinger's neck over here - was he walking slowly/carefully down the hill because he's nervy? or because he is just large, or out of shape, or just a careful horse who doesn't want to barrel his 1400lb body down a steep hill? 

I do think I'd like to start trail riding him more. I think he appreciated not doing his rehab stuff, and the hill work is good for him too. I might add a trail ride day to our rehab plan, although I may have him do it on a day where we still do some arena work. He's doing so much better food-wise on this fitness plan, I've been able to increase his hay quite a lot! So I don't want to lose out on all that cardio (the trails don't really allow us to do a long trail ride, it's a pretty short loop). 

First Day Back After Injections

TC got four days off from work following his injections. I honestly think he needed some rest, he's been on a pretty intense rehab schedule and I think it was getting to him a bit. Or more likely, it was getting to me and I'm anthropomorphizing. He's fine. 

During that time, he got another set of shoes on, and the farrier reported that she was super happy with how he's doing in the pads. I am too! His feet look better, and I'm glad that we're sticking to the plan to grow the horse some more heel.

Munching on the tiniest grass sprigs
Yah I know he looks terrible, that's
why I restarted this blog

Yesterday, I was finally allowed to put him back to work and back to work we went. I decided to pop him right back into work with a few more breaks than we normally do. 

I've been sticking my surcingle on him with my equiband pad + equibands (to warm up, we're going to work toward using them during the trot), then I've been clipping the kids' reins to his longeing cavesson and riding him a little bit out on the tracks for his walk work. Just to give him the feeling of being normal. Or me the feeling of being normal, I miss seeing his gray ears.  

I didn't notice much of a difference on the tracks at the walk. Although I did note how slowly he walks down hills and how he kind of wiggles back and forth across the track. I didn't push it though, I just want to observe it over time - maybe if we inject the neck, that'll be something I notice changes. The one big positive thing was, once on the flat ground, I did ask him to be more forward and while he took a moment to get moving, he did then maintain his forward walk all the way around the track vs slowing down again. 

Left front (he doesn't have a weird
lump on his tendon, that's his other knee)

Once in the arena, I took off his reins and his equibands, then put him on the long lines and off we went. I'd been trying really hard not to overthink this. Just watch him without forming much of a narrative in my mind before I really see how things go. 

The first few trot sets were kind of lethargic. Like he did them, didn't try to stop, but he wasn't really moving particularly well. This has been pretty normal to start though. It was also like 80 degrees and he has a full winter coat poor guy (he got a bath afterwards with cool water).

Right front

But then, I asked him to seriously be more forward and that's when I started to see a couple of little things change. 

First, he seemed more comfortable using the ground? It sounds odd but he was almost a little heavier in all four feet, but using the ground to push against. I've described this horse as feeling "slippery" to ride in terms of his aid system, kind of like when your car hydroplanes a little bit. Like your aids don't quite have the effect that you thought they'd have and it's like neurons are misfiring between you. He gives that same feeling with the ground, like the ground is a bit of a suggestion, or you're like huh, is the ground weird? No, the horse is weird. Without riding him, I can't really confirm that he wouldn't be as slippery, but he looked much tackier. Like he was more comfortable pushing through his whole body. 

I also didn't notice as much of a difference between his hind legs. I can usually see the slight asymmetry - his left hind doesn't want to swing under so well, his right hind doesn't want to push. But I could convince myself that his hind legs were more normal. Although I did see that his left hind still had a bit of a twisty quality at the walk. 

I ran out of TC pictures so you get bird pictures,
this is a Northern Flicker

And finally, he was more forward. Which was HUGE. Once he was really going, he was happy to take a break, but then he just needed one "trot!" to get going again. I stopped really using my whip at all, just my voice. He seemed a lot more in tune with me as well, like more mentally trying to figure out what I wanted. I even jogged a bit around the arena with him to get him on straighter lines and he seemed to think that was fun. In the past he's seemed a little braced against me, not like physically but just like, oh god what are you going to make me do now. 

I super relate to that - when I started taking this fitness class with my personal trainer at work (pre-personal training with him), I was so nervous every time I came into class and looked at the board because I knew I may have to do things that bothered my hip. Now that my hip has improved so much, I no longer feel concerned seeing a bunch of squats or lunges on the board worrying about how my hip will handle it. 

The best part was that during one of his walk breaks, he just... casually picked up the canter. I haven't asked him to canter at all in his rehab yet. Canter was something we REALLY struggled with in the end. He'd balk going into the canter, like if you asked he'd literally just stop. And once in the canter it was like chasing him the entire time. But yesterday he just picked it up and kept cantering until I was like uhhh you can stop now? It was slow and balanced, but not at all lethargic. 

Now, he has offered canter before, but it was usually when he was already in trot and it was always when he kind of exploded and ran off first. This was just a quiet canter pick up like he felt like seeing what it would feel like. 

Bunch of European Starlings - for Christmas, I'm
putting together a book of ranch birds for my dad,
so I've been doing some last minute bird pictures
at the ranch each day

Now, I'm trying not to get my hopes up! There are a lot of reasons why things could have looked better. First, he had five days off. He really isn't the kind of horse who changes very much with time off - like I've given him 2 weeks off and then ridden him bareback down the road in the halter and had the neighbor horses go galloping around and he's totally chill about that (he is not the same horse he was at like 4-8yo if anyone remembers those days LOL). But still, he had time to recover. 

He was also on bute up until about 2 days before. And he got his shoes done. And the ground is getting softer. And we're heading into the time of year where he DOES get better. 

But I'm also trying to stay positive and appreciate that he does seem to feel better. Whether that's a permanent change/something that can be managed, or whether it's just a fluke/won't be able to be maintained, I dunno, and I kind of don't care. I know we're pretty far from where we need to be, but I also can't go through this whole thing without celebrating when he feels better! The real test will be the summer, but I'm hoping to set him up for success before then. 

Favorite bird of all time - yellow
billed magpie (now you know
where I live)

I'm still tentatively planning on the neck injections in February, even if he's doing well, I'm kind of thinking that it might be worth it to give him a boost/see if they help. I think I'd only not do it if he suddenly packs on a truly humongous amount of muscle between now and then. 

I'm also thinking about bringing on the other vet at that clinic who knows a lot about necks/is an internal medicine specialist. Just get her opinion, may also send his x-rays to a radiologist, may as well get everyone's opinion. Also on the docket is the possibility of a Selenium test and to scope for ulcers. Both of which he shows only SOME of the symptoms for, so I'm comfortable waiting on those. 

And so, TC's Year of the Vet continues. 

Another Opinion + Injections

One of the reasons I decided to take TC down to my somewhat local vet clinic to get injections was so that I could get another set of eyes on him/his x-rays. And, of course, to get the injections done in a more sterile environment. It gets windy at the ranch so I wanted to make sure that we didn't unintentionally introduce anything else into his joints.

I've known this vet for a while, he was the vet who helped with Rico's internal pigeon fever years ago. He was happy to hear that Rico was being a loon the other day! The trees were being trimmed (far from where he lived) and he was galloping around the pasture bucking. Then he would canter over to TC (who was trying to be a good companion and standing by the fence) and he'd bite his face, then run off again. 

TC says "where are we???"

Soon after we arrived, poor TC got yet another lameness exam, which was great! Although the more vets that say "hey this horse is actually pretty sound" the more I feel insane. But he did have this amazing app that evaluates lameness based off of video (I was going to ask what it was and then decided not to because I don't think that's good for my mental health) and it did note that he was weaker in the left hind x right front diagonal pair. And on a tight circle on hard ground, they could make him the tiniest bit lame on the right front. That tracks with everything we've seen so far. 

He then did a neuro exam, which I was a little surprised by, but ended up being a good thing. They went in tight circles and halted and walked up and down hills. By that point, TC was having kind of a good time, he was shockingly good for the tech who was working with him. Normally he's trying to be a clown. Don't worry, he got plenty of clown time while we were in the clinic, he found a resident who thought he was very cute and was barging around touching all the equipment to make her laugh. 

After the exam, I got to show the vet the slough of x-rays that TC had had in the past two months. He spent quite a while going over them with me, which was SUPER helpful. So far only OG vet had seen all of the rads, as I just sent the hoof ones to my local vet. 

Then he realized where we were

These were the notes I took from the x-rays and the lameness exam:

- TC is weaker on LH x RF diagonal, LH does not want to reach as far forward, RF is more hesitant. 

- TC is very slightly neurological, he's a little too comfortable standing off balance (doesn't correct himself) and when going downhill, seemed to struggle to figure out where his RF was - he reached a bit too much. Very mild, not unsafe, thought it could very easily be his size + muscle weakness rather than an actual neurological issue. 

- His feet do look like they have improved, vet agreed with my OG vet who thought his feet were pretty bad in early Sept, agrees with my local vet that his feet are better now (not perfect), agrees with my farrier that it will take time to continue to improve. Wants more heel and thinks that the pads he has on and the trim that my farrier is doing will get us there. But he also said that there's only so much you can do sometimes. 

- His hocks and pasterns weren't as bad as my local vet thought they were. Said the same thing as OG vet - that he has shockingly clean joints for this large of a horse at 14yo. But he was happy to inject them to help him out, but suggested injecting hocks, coffins, and just the RF pastern joint. The LF seemed okay and given that he came up more off on the RF, he figured we could do that one first. 

- His neck might be a problem. Saw the C6/7 rotation, but also an anomaly in C6 where one of his transverse processes seems to be shorter/smaller than the other (can't tell which one due to it being an x-ray). This can cause issues in the soft tissue nearby. Also saw some narrowing in the joint at C6/7 but no remodeling, suggesting that if it is his neck, it's at least not a severe case because it hasn't caused remodeling. 

The conclusion on the neck stuff was this: I am well within reason to chase down his neck with a CT scan to look for pinched nerves. This would easily explain all the issues I've had with TC, such as balking and muscle wasting. However, this involves general anesthesia and would just be to get a diagnosis. The vets these days are seeing more and more of this and new treatments are being developed, but it would be a long road ahead potentially requiring surgery. There's no major reason to go that route immediately given that he's pretty sound and isn't showing more than extremely mild neuro symptoms. The vet suggested instead that we could inject C6/7 on both sides and maybe also C5/6. If he DOES have neck issues and he just needs neck injections to remedy them, that'd be great!

So, we discussed the injections quite a lot, both limb and neck. In the end, I decided to just do his limbs at this appointment with Alpha 2. Two spots each in his hocks, both front coffin joints, and the one pastern joint on his RF. There is still enough leftover where we could do his neck at a later date. And I'll tell you why.

Sleepy boy, he snored quite a lot

The reason why I decided to do it this way is that I could see two realities...

1. TC has a neck issue. There are nerves being pinched and it's causing him enough pain where he's unable to use himself properly and slams on the brakes frequently when he feels unbalanced or when he feels the pain. He's more forward in the winter just due to the cooler weather and maybe the softer ground helps too. Treatment is potentially just neck injections, possibly surgery, or it could mean that he should be retired (at least from dressage, if not full retirement). 

2. TC's neck is fine, all of this has just been a combination of everything creating a vicious cycle starting with his feet. His feet started to get uncomfortable, so he braced in his neck and back, dropped through his thoracic sling, and then couldn't move forward. This caused the balking behavior and because he wasn't using himself properly, the muscle wasting. The neuro stuff we saw at the appointment was a red herring because he's just too weak to properly support himself right now. Treatment is to fix his feet and do some injections to make him feel better in the meantime so that I can bring him back to work. 

Getting his feets all cleaned up

I've been very careful with this process to not do too much at once. We started with the diagnosis, moved onto his feet, then nutrition, then bodywork, and now injections. It's been really nice to see what is helping - for example, he does seem more comfortable after his feet, which I wouldn't have known if I'd done the injections before fixing his feet. Same thing with bodywork, I noticed a difference in his posture afterwards so I feel confident continuing. 

So at this appointment, if I were to inject both the neck and the limbs, I'd not be able to rule out either of them. 

For that reason, we decided to start with just his limbs and save the rest for his neck later on. I asked the vet how long I should wait to see an effect. He said well, if TC were lame, it'd be pretty immediate - within five days of the injection he'll be feeling better. But I'm looking at behavior that has been reinforced for years and I'm also looking at his topline to grow, which takes time and consistency. Although I do hope when I bring him out on Sunday (which is when we can start back to work), he drags me all over the arena because he's so forward and happy that his joints feel better. 

We agreed on at least two months to slowly bring him back (further) into work before I make the decision on whether to bring him down for neck injections. And looking at the calendar, I'm on vacation for the last half of January, so we'd actually be looking at more like three months. I'd likely make the decision before my vacation and then make the appointment for after my vacation. I'd rather not inject his neck and then leave the country just in case there were complications. 

I hopped on him with his cavesson
and surcingle on in order to warm up
the other day - used the kids' reins!

So we did the limb injections and TC is resting unhappily at home because he's locked on his paddock to rest and because it's supposed to rain today. He hates it, he probably thinks this is some horrible reality show that he's been put on to get in shape and lose weight (he's down 67lbs! From 1457 to 1390), like the biggest loser for horses without the abuse, although he'd like to speak with the producers. 

Meanwhile, I'm trying not to be too concerned. I had thought that we'd ruled out his neck... but I also couldn't believe that it wasn't his neck. But also every vet on the planet is obsessed with necks right now, so is this like when you buy a new car and see that car everywhere? He has full range of motion with his neck and is never careful about shoving his face into all sorts of places, but he also does struggle with steering/the connection in a way that suggests neck. But he's also a friesian and they seem to be born with extra stretchy ligaments. 

I think I've already decided that if it is his neck, I'm not interested in going to the extremes - I won't put him under anesthesia. But I will inject it, as much as I'm hoping it isn't his neck at all, and that these injections we just did fixed it all, I am kind of glad that we have at least one more option to try later. 

Long Lining

This week is injection week, but I've made some changes that I wanted to document prior to that. 

Since getting the BOT wraps, TC has been getting used to wearing them. I put them on the moment he's in the cross ties and then I take them off after grooming. He still thinks they make gravity a little stronger, but he's tolerating them well. I feel bad that he's in a bit of bootcamp right now, but it's good for him. 

Unrelated, but we have a tree down on the trails
right now, hoping to get it cleared soon so I can
ride up there again, it's great hill work!

One thing my vet noted last week was that he needed more muscle... this is something I continuously have heard from vets for YEARS now. Literally half the time I've owned this horse I hear that he needs more muscle. It's tough because they aren't wrong, he DOES need more muscle. But I see this as a symptom and they see it as something I like, maybe haven't considered doing. 

But I took it as evidence that maybe his current plan (longeing) is not working for him as well as my vet would expect given that he's feeling better. So last week I decided to look into some other options.

As he loses weight, he looks worse unfortunately

Mostly I won't fit this to a saddle

When longeing, I have TC in his rope halter and he holds quite a nice posture. He is not hollow and running on the forehand, he's nicely lifted through his thoracic sling, is tracking up, and is lifted in his trunk to the point where I can see his little abs working. 

But at the same time, he's also not working through any resistance. Not in a behavioral way, but when I ride him, I ask him to step into the contact and I'm also a person on him adding weight. 

I decided to see about riding again, but this time in a saddle. Unfortunately his back is still too undermuscled to support a real saddle, and I'm wanting to avoid the TCS because I can't afford to hurt my back before my trip to Uruguay in January. 

I ran out of horse pictures so here's a bird picture,
this is a White-crowned Sparrow by the way

One of my friends suggested long lining, so I broke out the bridle and surcingle and decided to give it a go. With the surcingle on, I also grabbed his equibands and decided to at least have him warm up at the walk with them on. 

The moment I put his bridle on, he started chomping at the bit. He's done this for a long time and it's only in the cross ties (never when working, he's totally quiet in the mouth) but it was really annoying me, so I decided to use my longeing cavesson instead. 

The bit thing I will address later, I think it's a good idea to try some bit flexions and get him holding it quieter in the cross ties, but it was a very tough week last week and I was not going to deal with it then. Not only am I having to head up the technical side of this absolutely nutty migration at work, we ended up losing Ruby, my parents' dog over the weekend. She wasn't my dog, but boarding at the ranch means I get attached to all of the animals there because I'm there so often. She was the very best dog and I miss her so much. 

All of that meant that I had limited bandwidth, so I was hoping that long lining in the cavesson went well, and it did!

This is a Say's Phoebe, we get them at the ranch
here and there

TC hasn't been long lined in a long time, and he hasn't been long lined without clicker training I think ever. But he's the most patient, perfect creature, so he let me fumble a little bit to start. 

I noticed with long lining that while he held the same posture, I could really get him to step into the contact. I dunno if that's going to lead to a lot more muscle building, but it did feel like the next step toward getting him comfortable undersaddle. 

He maintained his forwardness, which I've been harping on him more and more about, and I was even coordinated enough to have him go through the trot poles we've been using. 

Here's a horse and bird picture,
Rico watching a Great Egret fly
into his pasture!

I think we'll continue with the long lining in the cavesson. But we'll be taking a break because tomorrow TC gets injections! Hopefully they go well and he starts feeling much much better.