Pincushion update

After a temporary disruption in his training schedule due to Thanksgiving, followed by the injections, Horton is back to work. As directed by Rick, I lunged Horton lightly Wednesday, the day after he was injected. I didn't have a chance to do anything with him Thursday; Friday I lunged him again and then rode a bit. When tracking left, I could not get him off my inside leg and he was very resistant to going round and forward. I didn't get after him, since Rick said he could still be sore. But he also said that by today, any residual soreness should be gone and I could ride him with full expectations.

Fortunately, today dawned dry so that I could ride. I lunged Horton first to get him thinking forward, then mounted. Again, he balked at going left and getting off my inside leg on a 20m circle, so we did shoulder-in down the long sides of the arena instead. He did the lateral work equally well both directions, which told me his difficulty wasn't so much a physical issue as a mental one. So I worked through it with lots of encouragement and persistence until his trot quality to the left more closely mirrored the nice connection and energy he gave me tracking right. Once it did, he started thinking about offering canter, instead of bracing whenever he thought I might ask for canter. But he waited until I finally did ask, picked it up nicely, and maintained it until I asked for the trot again. I was very pleased with him!

It looks like I should be able to find a dry window during which to work him tomorrow before another soaker moves in Monday night and Tuesday. I look forward to building on today's good work.

Still gambling

We drove to Lincoln City yesterday to do Lance's follow-up exam. The good news: his ligament looks as good as new. The bad news: the bone (where the ligament was/is attached) is rougher, over a bigger area, than Rick hoped or expected, indicating that the tear was worse than he originally thought. That roughness is a point of weakness, where re-injury is most likely to occur. If I condition Lance carefully, he doesn't do anything stupid (his mellow nature is a plus here!), and God blesses, he could still be an athlete. Otherwise, he will be a trail horse. Of course, this is the gamble I took when I decided to go ahead and get him, but I was so hoping the follow-up exam would show a better scenario. :-(

Lance's breeder has been anticipating being able to turn him out (in the indoor arena) if the exam showed he was healed up, but we don't want him ripping around and re-injuring himself. She says he has never ripped around, but neither has he been cooped up this long. She is going to be able to walk him Sunday, Monday and Wednesday; and I am going out to walk him on Tuesday. Rick thinks turning him out after four straight days of hand-walking might be a safe bet. I'm hoping and praying it is. 

Nine inch nails needles

(Actually, the needles are 10 inches long. If photos of medical procedures bother you, proceed through the following pictorial at your own risk!)

Supplies at the ready

The inject sites are clipped and cleaned

Finding the right spot, needle at the ready

Easing it in

The diagonal line on the left is the needle, going in parallel to the bone

Time to do the other side

After the needle is positioned, he injects the steroid

Little wonder that Horton told the farrier this afternoon that his rump is sore to the touch. Tomorrow I'll lunge him lightly in the surcingle, and Thursday Rick says I can start riding him again (if we can find a dry window in which to work). It will be interesting to see if there are any changes in Horton's behavior!

Every dry day is a blessing

We returned home from our Thankgiving trip late last night under clear skies. I caught the weather forecast before going to bed and was relieved to hear that there were a couple more dry days in the forecast. I knew Horton would be in need of exercise; it's not good to 'get them fit, then let them sit.'

This morning when I did chores I found a note from the person who did our farm chores while we were gone. She wrote: "Horton was a good boy until today! He was bucking and kicking from his stall to his pen. He kicked the back wall and may have broken a board." Oh my! I decided some turn-out was in order, so after he'd had a half-hour to eat some of his breakfast, I took Horton to the arena to expend some of that pent-up energy. When I removed his halter, he just stood there looking at me until I shooed him away; then all he did was trot to the other end and look for something to eat. That's it.

I went back to my chores, keeping an eye out for more activity. Finally, he rolled.

When he got up from that he did explode – but after two big bucks, he went back to grubbing around for greens. It took some encouragement with the lunge whip to get him to actually exercise!

I didn't have time to ride until later today. Horton was good on the lunge line, but it took a lot of encouragement to get him to canter under saddle, especially to the left. He never got cranky or balky about it, so I gave him grace in case of discomfort.

Rick is planning to do the injections tomorrow morning. It will be interesting to see if they make a difference!

Horton hears a Who!

No news, bad news, good news; no BIG news

Yesterday's wild weather hit the coast with much higher winds (up to 90 mph) and several inches more rain than we got, and the power was still out at Lance's barn this morning. No power = no ultrasound, so we will have to wait until next week to see how his injured ligament has healed. Unfortunately, between the holidays and his breeder's work schedule, Lance probably won't get any hand-walking until then, either. :-/  I'd drive over there to keep him from going stir-crazy if I could (getting this kind of mileage

with my diesel VW Jetta makes the two-hour round trip economically feasible) but alas, we will be out of town Wednesday-Sunday. (Looking forward to that fuel economy for the 800-mile round trip as well!)

The good news is that we had an unexpected break between the previous storm and the next one mid-day today, so I was able to get Horton out for a little exercise for the first time since Friday. We did walk/trot/canter both directions, first on the lunge line and then under saddle, and there was no crankiness at all. Not that he didn't need occasional encouragement to stay straight, connected from back to front, and/or forward, but he responded to the encouragement appropriately.

Rick didn't get the needles and drugs assembled for Horton's hip injections until yesterday, so he'll wait until we get back to do it. The chance of a bad reaction or infection is minimal, but he wants to be around just in case. So bigger news with photos next week!