To ride dressage is to dance with your horse, equal partners in the delicate and sometimes difficult work of creating harmony and beauty.

Monday, January 28, 2013

Now we are so happy, we do the dance of joy!

(Did anyone else love that show?)

Rick checked out Lance today, ultrasounding the area of the suspensory tear in his right front and performing flexion tests on his right front and both hind legs. Everything checked out fine, and we are cleared for regular work – commensurate with Lance's level of fitness, of course. I confess to some excited hopping around, and I might have hugged and kissed my vet. ;-)

Tomorrow I will mail in our show entry, and we will continue to work on the basics of walk-trot, trot-walk, and walk-halt transitions, as well as going truly forward. Since Lance is greener than Horton was and less fit than Larry started out, this show will be a lot more about giving Lance some exposure to a show environment and very little of seeing how well we can do. There will also be the fun of having people try to figure out what breed he is. ;-)

And Lance is all about having fun; I've fished his Jolly Ball out of the stock tank and from the other side of his paddock fence numerous times.

Official stall plate notwithstanding, he really is just a great big red lovable goober!

6 comments:

TBDancer said...

I got the ultimate compliment yesterday at my horse's vet visit (he came up lame a year ago. After soundness, nerve block andx-rays, my vet, whom I adore, stared at the radiographs and said, "I have NEVER seen a horse with a navicular this bad still walking around ...". He said it more than once, too. I'd comment on someone else's horse that he was treating that was doing so much better with the same plan we were following. He'd repeat what he'd said about my horse--"Huey is SO much worse. I have NEVER ... "). Anyway, we had two IV-to-the-hoof Tildren treatments,I took Huey through the "adjusted levels of exercise" program. At each vet visit, Huey was noticeably better on the hard ground (sound and happy on the "good footing") but still not 100 percent.

Yesterday my vet watched as Huey trotted SOUND around him in a small circle on hard ground and then showed no reaction to hoof testers or the check ligament "pinch." The compliment? "My God, girl," and then shook his head in amazement.

So now I get to start the same thing you're doing--walking and a bit of trotting, transitions, some trail riding, and getting both of us back into some sort of "shape" so we can take a 45-minute dressage lesson and not fall over from lack of oxygen or extreme muscle fatigue ;o)

Michelle said...

WOOHOO, TBDancer! I am so happy and excited for you! So are you going to start a blog to chronicle your come-back? Let me know if you do!

Anonymous said...

Congrats! You must be so excited to get to proceed with your plans for him.

Anonymous said...

Hooray for this spectacular news!!! Sweet relief. When/where will the show be?

Michelle said...

I am! I am!

Michelle said...

February 24 at the Yamhill Co. Fairgrounds. Our ride times will be bright and early since we are in the first two classes.