TC Finally "Talks" About His Neck

So yesterday, three of the horses at the ranch got had acupuncture appointments! Poor Riot, he wasn't included. He was done last time though so no worries about how special he feels, he also gets fancy cookies when Rico and TC do because he nickers at me (Sunny has allergies so he gets a tiny bit of hay poor guy). 

So the smoke was making the light look weird but
the air was actually okay on Wednesday

TC

Obviously my clown of a horse had to go first because he was already getting annoyed that there was an additional human at the ranch and she had decided to organize her things and get ready for him rather than get him out. He is so spoiled, he is so used to me coming to pay attention to him the moment I get to the ranch that when I got called down to the house last week to come see the construction before riding, he was BESIDE himself shocked that I was not his priority. 

TC had some stuff going on so that was both good and bad news. I mean, bad because I feel bad for him! But good because this might totally explain some of what has been going on. 

The left side of his lower back was a little spasm-y and the right side of his neck was bugging him. Now, I'm SHOCKED that he was so communicative about his neck. It makes me SO excited for him to see my PT lady in a couple of weeks. She was the first person to tell me that he was hiding something in his neck but that it was going to take him a while to tell us about it, just working slowly with bodyworkers to have him start to trust them. Finally yesterday he told my acupuncturist all about it and got super into the cold laser. She was shocked too. 

I've never seen him so into the acupuncture session in general. He was yawning, taking deep breaths, blowing, licking, chewing, and so on. When PT lady comes out, we'll see what she thinks about him but I'm so excited to tell her about this day. Hopefully she will give us some answers as to what exactly is going on. But it's on the right side of his neck about half way up, that's more info than we have ever had! 

Weird light, but good air!

Rico

Rico hadn't been done in a while but he also hasn't been doing much! We talked about how tricky it is with an older horse to know how much to do with him. Like I could easily get on and put him on the bit and walk him in the equibands every day for an hour and he'd be much better off physically I'm sure... but is that fair to him? I doubt he'd want to do that from a mental perspective and I'm not about forcing him to do anything, even if it's good for him, at this point. But at the same time, if there's anything I can do to make his retirement a) more comfortable and/or b) last longer, I'd obviously love to do it! 

He had his normal stuff, his neck and his sacrum were both a bit iffy. Neck because of his neck arthritis I'm sure and his back because of his lordosis. He's also had some pitting edema on his belly so she did some points to help with that and recommended we get bloodwork, which I'll do when the vet is out for TC's teeth next week.

By the end, we'd agreed that I'd definitely do belly lifts every day I'm there. It's fast and easy and won't bother him, especially since there will be cookies involved. And I'm going to try to pony him in the equibands (on relatively loose) one day and see how much he hates it. If he doesn't mind and thinks it's fun, I might try to pony him down the road and back a few times a week with TC, putting him back before TC and I go to the arena. We'll see. Either way I'm glad that he's enjoying his retirement and that at the least, I can have him get acupuncture semi-regularly! 


Sunny

Sunny was last and she was pleased to see that he's much fitter now! He's now living on a hill and I've been riding him four times a week for about three weeks practicing our western dressage stuff (earlier in the day we did the circle of death with poles and he thought that was great!). 

We saved the best for last I guess, she said that Sunny had improved so much! The only issue he really had was in his mid neck, which makes sense with his silicosis. She thought that he might have arthritis in the facet joints of the neck, which I guess is somewhat common and hard to tell from typical neck x-rays. Sunny showed some demineralization in his x-rays when first diagnosed but has been getting better and better with his neck mobility and comfort over the years (when first diagnosed he literally couldn't put his head down to eat or drink! Now he even offers to come on the bit sometimes!). 

He had a really good session and she recommended doing lots of suppling exercises undersaddle (spiraling in and out, shoulder-in, leg yield) and riding him in a variety of frames (lots of stretching and then bringing him back up, only when he's comfortable though). Luckily we are already doing a lot of that so that's great! 

Cutest western dressage pony

I just love being able to do this for the horses! I'm so happy with the improvement in TC's attitude about bodywork in general this year. He's really starting to realize that we can help him if he stops dicking around and actually communicates with us. And finally after a long while doing this, he's letting us talk about his neck for the first time. I really think this is the root cause of his postural issues and he's finally talking to us about it! 

For Rico, I'm just loving that I can give him something that makes him feel better. Even if it doesn't do anything significant to extend his life or make him all that much more comfortable, I like being able to make him feel like a special horse. Because he is one! 

And Sunny, what a cool thing that the more I ride him, the better his body gets! She also said his weight seems better and that he seemed younger. So that's pretty cool. 

Fingers crossed that TC feels great to ride tomorrow morning (he gets today off!) and Sunny too. Then in the afternoon, I hop on a plane for the first time since January 2020! 

Less Restricted

TC saw his acupuncturist for the first time in a couple of months and I'm still bummed that I wasn't able to be there. Unfortunately (well, they weren't unfortunate) the SO and I had made plans for the afternoon and so instead, my mom offered to meet the acupuncturist because I was giving one of the slots to her to use on Riot. 

I got an update by text and then got his sheet a few days later. It was a really good update!

First, she said that TC was the most relaxed she's ever seen him (she has only seen him at my old barn, this was the first time seeing him at the ranch), which is really exciting for me! I love that he's relaxed at the barn and I feel like he's getting a little bit better about bodywork these days. 

There's so much to do to take this and turn it back
into a Third level horse but I like where we are!

The other exciting thing was that his right shoulder had the least restriction, even less restriction than his left shoulder! I'm not sure what is causing that, there are a lot of variables at play here. First, he's in pasture, so he is moving around a lot more (he walks back and forth from his pasture to his stall at least 5x/day if not many more than that). Second, he's not being ridden in my saddle anymore, which I'm fairly positive was causing some of the shoulder issues in the past. And third, I've been doing those exercises that the new bodyworker gave me! One of his exercises specifically gets the right shoulder more up and mobile. 

TC had a little bit more tension and a trigger point in his deltoids, which are in front of his shoulder at his mid neck. I think that's just him using them for the first time in like, years right now. He's packing on muscle in that area so I bet he's just a bit body sore there. 

He also had some right side SI/LS issues, which again is interesting as the left side (if I'm remembering correctly) has been an issue in the past. I'm wondering now if he's just using his body more symmetrically and so that LF/RH diagonal pair is struggling a bit with that? Who really knows. None of it was serious or anything. 

The final exciting thing was that he apparently let her do his stifle points without freaking out. The first time she tried getting his left stifle done, he wouldn't let her do it. The second time he was uncomfortable at first. This time he was apparently fine! We've been climbing hills more regularly now and he has a small hill in his paddock that he has to climb every time he comes in from the pasture, so maybe that's helping! He definitely feels super sound to me. 

Can't wait to see him gain strength for the collected
work again! 

I'm so glad I have these amazing professionals to help me get TC back to where he was (or, let's be honest, better than where he was before). I'm excited that it seems like we're on the right track right now. Between the move to the ranch, more hill work, not using my saddle anymore, the new bodyworker, and my wonderful acupuncturist, I think we are on a roll here. 

Looking back over the last year of confusion, treating for ulcers, changing supplements several times (I didn't put this in the list but the Platinum CJ has been amazing for him, his coat has never looked better), seeing multiple vets, multiple trainers... I've felt crazy a lot of the time. It's not totally obvious and it took me a while to see what the problem was and took me a lot longer to figure out what was causing it (still not totally sure lol). I feel really grateful to have all these people (and my friends and family) who believed me and are willing to work with me to help TC feel his best. 

Can't wait for another acupuncture session and to get a saddle so I can feel this amazingness for real! 

Poking Ponies

The monthly acupuncture that I'm trading lessons for is FANTASTIC. We had another acupuncture clinic yesterday and I was just so happy. We started in December and did TC, Rico, and Sundance. Then we did January and I just had TC done because I'm trying to get a solid group of people interested. Then this time around, I got to do TC, Rico, and Sundance again. It was good timing as it was my mom's birthday last week! Poor mom is going to be getting acupuncture for Sundance for her birthday, Christmas, mother's day, maybe labor day? All the presents. 

It's great though, because my mom isn't a fan of chiropractic (she had a bad experience with a horse once) so having a dedicated acupuncturist is really great, it means my mom's horses actually get body work! 

Such a happy pone

First TC though. She brought extra long needles for him this time and wow that made a huge change. As we know, TC is a clown and his first priority is to make people laugh and then to eat snacks and then to play with other horses and then to pay any kind of attention to himself. The last two times he's had acupuncture, he's been very externally focused. He wants to help during the evaluation phase, wants his butt crack itched whenever she'd come by his butt with the massager, and is always pawing or trying to lip one of us. 

This time, the longer needles basically forced him to think about what was happening to him and he seemed really disturbed at first. Like oh no I'm experiencing feelings. He stood stock still with his ears back and his eyes a little concerned, but then slowly, over the course of the rest of the time, he began to realize that feeling things is not always a bad thing, and actually this feels good. First, his nose started to twitch, then his eyes started to soften, his ears flopped to the side, and finally, FINALLY, we got a yawn out of him. The only time he ever yawns is after his bridle comes off. Go TC!

Generally, she said that he feels great! His back is much improved, his sacrum is much improved, his shoulders are EVEN!! All the shoulder lifts have been helping apparently! Now to even them out, because I've been doing more on the right side than the left, so I should probably do them both evenly now. 

The other thing she found was that now that his back feels better, he's holding his butt tuck for longer! I didn't know that was a thing. She tucked his butt and then he held it for the rest of the session. So we're going to add that to our belly lifts and shoulder lifts that we do a few times a week. I'm so glad to see that it's working!

Another thing that she found was much improved was his stifle! If you recall, he was VERY reactive the first time, he wouldn't let her put a needle in it at all. The second time we did it, in January, he was a little reactive but okay with the needle, but then very reactive to the electrode. This time, he was much better about it! Clearly he's feeling better in that weak stifle and he's feeling very strong with all that trail riding. 

ACTUALLY RELAXING

Next, we headed over to the ranch and did Sundance and Rico! I was kind of embarrassed to say that neither of them had had much work since their December appointments. I was wondering whether it was going to be worth it or not, but wow it definitely was!

Sundance felt much better in his back since last time! My mom had been struggling to find him a saddle that was short enough for him, he's got a very short back. Unfortunately the one she was riding in during the fall (she doesn't ride a ton, don't worry) was a little too long for him and so his lumbar area was a bit sore. This time, his back felt great! My mom has found a smaller, lighter western saddle that she loves riding in so we brought that out and looked at it and it doesn't go past his 18th rib, awesome! 

He was also more level behind and felt good in his neck, which is weak due to his silicosis. He's been feeling better in the bridle when I ride him too. I don't really ask him to go on the bit but I certainly don't prevent it and lately, he's been offering me a somewhat decent connection. 

He's getting so light, boo

Rico also felt way better than last time too! I was so happy. I've noticed him changing a bit in the way he carries himself in pasture, he's way more coordinated and equally as likely to pick up trot or canter, vs previously he seemed less coordinated and wanted to stay in trot mostly. I don't know, I don't see him a ton so I don't have many data points, but he does seem better. 

Immediately she said that his back looked better, much less swayed and we kicked ourselves for not taking a "before" picture. He wasn't as bad in the belly lifts too, last time he had almost no mobility back there. 

This time, his right SI seemed a bit restricted, so she focused her energy on that. He also had his normal neck arthritis on the right side of his neck, which she worked on but I think that'll always plague him a bit. I mean, it's arthritis. By the end, he seemed very relaxed and was standing happily, plus his back was up even more than it had been when she first started! 

I'm glad he's finally enjoying his body work

I got the report from my mom that afternoon that both Rico and Sundance were galloping around and rearing at each other, celebrating how good they felt I guess! 

I'm so glad that I have the ability to give Rico things like this in retirement. He may not be in any kind of work right now (I've been busy and mostly riding Sundance with my niece when I have extra time), but I still want him comfortable in his retirement. He turned 25 this year and is pretty damn sound, my goal is to keep him this happy and health into his 30s if I can! And I think the acupuncture is helping him out quite a bit. 

I'm also glad I can help my mom out with Sundance. He's been a really good pony for my niece, who is 13 months, to start learning to ride on (he may low key hate me and consider bucking me off every time I ride him alone, but when she's double with me, he lets us trot and canter, yes, canter, around on him!).

Eventually I'll get her out to do Riot as well, but Riot isn't being ridden much right now and doesn't have the history of silicosis like Sunny and he's not my perfect Rico, so he's been punted to the back of the line. Poor Riot! Soon, Riot, don't worry. 

More Pokes

A week ago yesterday, TC got acupuncture for the second time! I'm hoping to have her come down once a month or so (at least every six weeks) because TC always feels so amazing afterwards. This time was no exception. 

Prior to acupuncture, I have no updated pictures
since then because the arena has been crowded boo

She began with her normal assessment and found that TC's shoulders were significantly improved!! This means that the shoulder lifts are working. We do them about 3-4 times per week before and/or after rides, although I've been slacking a little lately so will redouble efforts. He has definitely been packing on muscle doing those and working in this different frame, so I'm glad that she's seeing a difference in his mobility as well. Phew! 

He was better, but not perfect, about his left stifle acupuncture point and she was able to use the electrodes on a bit before he was like "um, no thanks" and stepped away. We didn't push it, but we'll continue helping him out with the left stifle and the right shoulder. They are definitely related and I am probably going to get my lameness vet to take a look at them this year once he's fully fit. If I'm going to ask him to sit down for canter pirouettes and piaffe/passage this year (hopefully!), he needs to be feeling his best. The monthly acupuncture will help but if he needs an injection or something to give him a boost to put those movements on, I'm fine with it. Whatever he needs, he gets! 

TC's info

The last week following the acupuncture appointment, TC has felt great! I really love how he feels after the acupuncture and it seems to be holding longer as he still feels really good a week in. 

His canter was probably the biggest change in that I am having to work way harder to sit it now. The collection is way more apparent to me, not sure if that's because he's giving me a bigger difference with the acupuncture or just because I've been focusing so much on it since my last Tracey lesson. But I can really feel him sit now and I can really feel it when he doesn't!

The trot also feels good but not as good, he's just tough at the trot. I'm going to talk to Tracey about it on Wednesday. But there's nothing inherently wrong with the trot at this point, he's definitely better about coming up through his wither and engaging his thoracic sling than he has been, I'm just better at riding the canter than the trot. So now it's on me to figure it all out. 

And the plan, I love that she does this!

Can't wait to schedule another acupuncture appointment! I'm working on getting more people interested, I already have one person who is a go for monthly appointments but I'd like to get a solid day for her every time she comes down so I don't have to scramble at all. It takes time to build that kind of reputation and I'm glad to have had two full clinics so far!

Rico and Sunny Get Acupuncture

 As I said yesterday, all three horses (poor Riot was left out, sorry Riot) got acupuncture at the beginning of December. I went over TC already, but Rico and Sunny also got done!

 
I mostly wanted to get Rico looked at because I have started riding him again. I'm riding him twice a week for about 20 minutes mostly walking and trotting, it's not much but I'd like to see him get a little fitter so that we can do a little bit more. I'll write later about why I'm doing this but the point is that Rico has gone from being retired to being mostly retired and I want to make sure he's comfortable. 

I got Sunny looked at as an early Christmas present to my mom. Sunny has silicosis and has had some degeneration in his neck, she's always worried about his balance and strength, so I figured that we'd get some good information about that and hopefully make him feel better. 

Facebook memories reminded me of this 11 years
ago when Rico was heading off to rehab for his
suspensory and when I didn't think eating food was
necessary for my own existence

Sunny went first as my mom was babysitting and my niece went down for a nap right as we got started, good timing, baby! 

Sunny immediately showed TC up by having fabulous flexibility through his shoulders, but his neck showed some resistance turning to the left. Weirdly enough, when she tested out his hind legs, he showed that he wanted to lean right with both hind legs, indicating a restriction back there. 

He seemed to LOVE the acupuncture, he yawned a whole bunch and then fell asleep during the treatment. She did the same electro acupuncture thing on Sunny's lumbar area, as he was also sore there. She and my mom chatted about saddle fit and we have more information about what kind of saddle my mom needs for her security vs what kind of saddle Sunny needs to fit him better. 

By the end of the treatment, he was standing up MUCH straighter, like he looked a full hand taller. That was INSANE. At that point I didn't know how much better TC felt and while I was impressed with what she found on him, Sunny's treatment was the first one that had visible changes the moment she was finished with him. 

Sunny's evaluation

Sunny, see the weirdness on number 6 with his hind end?

Now, while all this is happening, Rico was surprisingly envious. He stood at his door staring at us aggressively. It may seem like this is just what my horses do, because TC stares aggressively at people who he wants to pay attention to him, but it's very unlike Rico. Rico is kind of a wallflower in comparison to TC, he and I are much more alike that way. We prefer to observe from afar. But Rico was very curious and seemed downright giddy when I got him out. 

Rico's case was very interesting as while both Sunny and TC had a bit of pain in their lumbar, normal for riding horses, Rico's pain was in his thoracic area, directly under the saddle. He had almost no ability to lift his ribcage with the belly lifts and showed some pain in the base of his neck. Apparently a lot of warmblood dressage horses show pain there, so it was not surprising. 

As he got worked on, Rico got a little worried. In his older age, he's lost a lot of confidence. I think it's that he doesn't feel as spry, so is probably aware of the fact that if something came after him, he probably couldn't get away as easily. He especially doesn't like that there are noises outside the barn sometimes, so when a car went by behind the barn, he got a little nervous. But, apparently there's a point on the horse's forehead where, when poked by a needle, it calms them right down. And when Rico got his poke, he immediately relaxed. I asked whether we could just leave it in permanently! I'd just take it out to ride him. 

Oh Rico, you've lived quite a life

Rico also had a huge physical change. She worked on his thoracic area under the saddle and did the electro stuff there. Then she did another belly lift and we heard a big CRACK and from then on, his sway back was WAY better. His neck also improved visibly over the course of the treatment, with him being able to bend it better in both directions. 

Her recommendations for him included the equiband, and I don't ride him in spurs, so I might bring that over and ride him in it to see how he handles it. I haven't been using it as much on TC recently because he's been feeling pretty good in that department lately, so it's good timing to try it out on Rico. 

See number 5 for his thoracic issues, I mean he has a
lot of issues being 24 years old, a GP dressage horse and
a preliminary level CDE horse and casually jumping around
4' courses his whole life

I rode Rico a few days after the treatment and didn't feel a huge change, but he did stretch down quite a lot during that ride, which he hasn't done in a long time. I've yet to ride Sunny but I'll ride him today I think. I doubt either of them will feel completely different to me because I'm not actively asking them to work against their resistances like I am with TC. Neither of them are as in tune to me as TC is and they are both rather quiet horses who probably won't run away with me because they feel good, unlike some gray weirdos I know. 

Generally the acupuncture was a huge success. We are definitely doing this again, in a perfect world I'd love to get her out once a month for TC and then have her do Rico every other month. My mom is sold and wants her to come back out and do Riot and maybe Sunny again. I'm so excited to have found a bodyworker that works for TC! Our chirovet is great, but I have never felt this kind of a change with her. I think it's just a matter of finding the right person for the horse and I think TC picked his person. 

TC Gets Poked

To start out December with a bang, on the first, Kate and I held an acupuncture clinic for our horses! My fabulous friend and client runs Topline Vet Therapeutics and I've been dying to have her work on TC, Rico, and Sunny. And we coordinated to get a few horses at Kate's barn. 

It was such a fabulous experience! TC was first and this blog is mostly about him so we'll start there. I'll write about Rico and TC in my next post because that was also fascinating. 

Happy pony waits for acupuncture

I mostly communicated that I wanted TC to feel more comfortable lifting through the base of his neck and his thoracic sling. That's been a huge thing for this horse to overcome throughout his training, so any help on that would be great! 

She started by going over his body and seeing where she found restrictions. It was pretty amazing what she found with not very much information (mostly because I forgot to tell her some things). TC's old weak left stifle showed up in this exam and apparently his right shoulder is not nearly as flexible as his left, which is also not very flexible. The horse is NOT naturally flexible. 

Another place she found slight tightness/pain was in his left lumbar area. She says that most horses, due to riding them, have lumbar pain, so was happy that he only showed it on one side and it was fairly mild. He also was not restricted in the base of his neck like many horses are (especially warmbloods apparently), but WAS restricted in the first three vertebrae. He found it harder to flex those vertebrae to the right, which is exactly what it feels like undersaddle. 

She did some stretches and said that he lifted his back well with the belly lifts and that if I told her I did them twice a day, she'd believe me! I basically never do them though. But I'm glad he's so flexible back there! She also pulled each front leg out and he was a little more resistant on the right side than the left. But that stretch often shows pain in the base of his neck and based on what TC did, she didn't find any pain there (vs that's where Rico had his neck pain). 

TC's diagram

With all of that information, she started by working on him with a massage gun to loosen him up and then began with the needles. TC took it well until she got to the left stifle where he had a CRAZY negative reaction, popping forward in the cross ties and looking a bit shocked that she'd poke him (after he's been getting needles in the rest of his body). That surprised me because he has been super sound on that left stifle for a while now, it was mostly a problem as a five year old and he kind of grew out of it. She was able to go back to it later on and he was fine though, so that's good! But maybe we need to continue our stifle exercises forever even though he's totally sound. 

She mostly worked on his lumbar and his right shoulder though, which he seemed to appreciate. While the other horses (more on them next) relaxed with the acupuncture, TC wouldn't relax because he kept trying to help her out and wanting to be involved. She'd go by his butt and he'd lift his hind leg to see if she'd scratch his butt cheek. She'd go by his neck and he'd turn and stare at her (like he does when I braid him, it's not helpful). He's just ridiculous. 

The plan for TC

She wanted him to have a day off the next day, so I gave him that and took the day off myself. I was itching to find out how he felt, so I got up first thing on Thursday to go see how he was. 

HE. WAS. AMAZING. 

Wow what a freaking difference. First, his bolting has definitely gotten way easier for him and I found that hilarious. He positively dropped to the ground and ran off with me during our first ride. Apparently this is normal for horses! 

Too excited to be feeling so good

But outside the squealing and running away with me, he feels REALLY good. He felt way easier to connect, easier to keep straight, easier to get to lift through his thoracic sling, and easier to steer. I really couldn't believe it. 

It was just easy for him and he definitely felt better. More relaxed but also more powerful, like there wasn't such a blockage in his neck to get the power to connect to the bridle. Since then, I've really felt like I'm able to ride him more up and out than I used to now that his neck isn't so locked. 

I've obsessively looked back through pictures of him over the years and WOW lifting through his thoracic sling has not been his strong point ever. He has definitely struggled with it more this year and that's what's causing me to feel weird about how he's going, but looking back through pictures made me feel better that this is something he's always done, it's just more extreme this year. But the rides that have occurred since the acupuncture visit have definitely been better in that department. We have a long way to go and he may never look as "filled in" in front of the withers as Rico did (Rico still has a ridiculous cervical trapezius in retirement lol), but we can make sure he feels good enough to use the muscles when I set him up well for it. 

Lifting so nicely here!

So with this and the fitness schedule, he's feeling amazing as he's coming back into work. I've implemented a few changes in the way we are going and what our training situation is like. More to come later as he's getting back in shape. 

I'm so happy to have a fabulous acupuncturist now! Hopefully we can bring her out once a month so that we can continue working on TC, it's one of the best decisions I've made this year I think. 

Tomorrow we'll talk about Rico and Sunny! They enjoyed their visit VERY much and showed huge changes too.