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

Friday, March 15, 2019

Well, shucks

The weather is getting nicer but my horse is getting heav-ier, as breathing harder. Lance's respiration rate isn't nearly as fast as when Rick diagnosed him with Inflammatory Airway Disease (because he's on twice daily prednisolone), but it's definitely more labored, and exercise has become much harder for him. I suspect Lance got triggered by our period of cold, dry air combined with the micro-particulates from wood smoke; I cringe when I see ours or the neighbor's drifting towards the barn. Rick and I have talked about doing a dex suppression round and then treating him with a new formulation through the inhaler, but haven't acted on that yet. Since the last time-intensive inhaler treatments didn't do a whole lot of good, I can't get excited about trying it....

Still, we do our limited work in the arena, or get out and about (especially when I can smell wood smoke in the barn/arena area). Lance needs the exercise for his metabolic syndrome, and I need the time on my horse. But until his breathing eases, I won't be considering any more shows.

1 comment:

Pam said...

Bless his heart. I hope that things turn around for him.