Transition to fall: September-October Goals and Progress

[Chisamba]

The exercise Exvet and Susan are doing was taught to me by acwestern pleasure rider to teach the super slow lope. ( back in the days when I showed Arabians at bed shows and had multiple disciplines to showbin. I haven't seen it used in dressage.

[Kyras_Mom]

I learned it from a dressage instructor to reinforce the inside leg to outside rein. He had us do that way (change to the outside of the circle) to engage the new inside hind and establish correct bend. Also shows very quickly whether the horse is in front of the leg.

Susan

[Lipsmackerpony88]

I might have to try this exercise from exvet and Susan. Thanks for the idea.

I rode solo the other evening in the indoor. Lynx was pretty good. I will admit we stayed on the non-spooky end just because I was the only one at the barn. He wanted to get a little tense on that side but he didn't spook. I worked on my transitions and I got him nice and sensitive to my seat and leg. We threw in a couple leg yields and shoulder ins. Overall It was a good ride although I did struggle when we would pass that spooky side. Especially going to the right which is his stiff side. (Both of our stiff sides.) I wanted to focus more on the bend but I think the solution would have been to focus more on my outside aids. He wants to throw his haunches in and his outside shoulder out on the circle. I know this is to avoid bending but I think the solution would have been more of a shoulder fore feeling.

Then I had a lesson on Sunday and we did a total non-stirrup ride. Was probably just a 30 minute ride and just walk trot. I love working without stirrups although it's been probably a year since I've truly done it. We kept his trot on the smaller side just for comfort but things felt good. I was actually in my jump saddle and while I will need to go try it again in my dressage saddle, have come to the realization that I'm not in love with my dressage saddle. I'm going to hang on to it for 6 more months or a year and then I'm going to upgrade to something that we both can be in love with! Lynx seems happy in it (I get it checked regularly) But I think I'm not in love with the very open seat and I think the stirrup bars are a bit too forward for me. In the twist is a bit wide although like my trainer pointed out Lynx might not allow me to have a very narrow twist due to his conformation as he's grown.

He gets chiropractic today and I'm hoping to truly try out the RideIQ app. They have lessons for nearly everything, getting a horse supper, forward, rider position ones and so much. I'm pretty excited and I hope it helps me a little.

[StraightForward]

Tesla was brilliant yesterday. I think I'm being a lot more effective with my right leg lately. We are going to be living in travers/renvers right for awhile. She always wants to throw her haunches left and yesterday I was able to ride canter with a little feeling of HI on the right lead, and SI/renvers on the left lead. Then trot turning up centerline emphasizing the right bend, LY left with the shoulders leading arriving at the rail in HI. My other lightbulb moment yesterday was that she needs to learn to open up more on the left shoulder, not just take more weight on the LF. So with that in mind, the same shoulder leading LY to the wall, then turn it into a swinging SI up the longside really asking her to step out with the outside front, then straighten a bit, but maintain bend into a stretchy circle, rinse and repeat.

We got a fairly nice trot HP left at the end of the ride yesterday, but HP right is not quite there yet. Continuing the HI right work ought to remedy that. A barnmate who hasn't seen us ride in a month or two said "Are you sure that's Tesla? She is looking so grown up suddenly!"

[blob]

Straightforward--I do think the judging is more conservative/harder in championship classes and I think that is totally fine/fair! For the judge that scored us fairly low (61) it seemed like the main complaint was that we were too quick. My trainer does not think this was the case and thinks perhaps this is just the nature of tiny pony legs. But we never got that comment last year and so I wonder if we are not quite getting the level of collection or sit they want to see at first level and so what is a nice forward horse at training level is feeling too quick at first? Not sure! I do think I need to sort out the balance/way of going they're looking for at first before moving to 2nd even if we can do the movements. So, I will probably stick at first a bit longer than I planned. In fact, I am tentatively aiming for an early december show. It's our last one in the area until February and of course weather in december is a total toss up. It'll also be probably the first time many judges are judging on the new tests, so should be interseting all around, but seems worth doing. So, time to make sure I know the new 1-3.

My hope for MM was to really ramp up work in winter and fall when I thought her breathing would be at its best. But actually the opposite seems to be going on. I'm in lots of conversations with my vet and have reached out to a contact from Khall (thank you!). Right now looking at trying a different type of medication--albuterol or something similar. There are options to use an inhaler and aerochamber (cheaper equipment, more expensive medication) or a nebulizer (expensive equipment, cheaper medication) and not sure yet which is the best option for her. Hoping we can start with some oral albuterol to see how she even responds to it. If she responds well, then can look into the right way to get it to her airways. My vet does think that even just saline solutions in the nebulizer might help her just by clearing out debris/allergens. It's also tricky because both the vet and my experience has shown that some exercise does seem to help compared to just letting her rest. But it is hard to ride when the horse is clearly not at their best.

[khall]

SF Cedar has me push the trot in both SI and counter SI to encourage that outside shoulder to step more. I also find counter toh to be helpful. So bent right toh left. Counter SI on the circle is also helpful.

Hosted the WE clinic yesterday. Everyone had a fun time. Lots of new riders to the sport. The clinician Meghan Truppner knows WE and is very helpful in the execution of the obstacles. She had some good insight into seat as well. Gave me a good pointer for my seat that really resonated with me. All want her back. Trying to get some interest going for WE here in middle Georgia.

Show this weekend. I’m just going to do first 2/3 not 2nd level at this time. Want to run through all 2 nd level tests first and hopefully will show next month and give it a shot. Gorgeous weather though a cool down this week for a few days.


Blob I hope you can get MM sorted out.
Happy riding all!

[Chisamba]

Blob. Wrt riding MM. I felt so bad exercising Teddy until one of my pupils mother, who had severe COPD would run while her daughter rode. She told me that even though running was very hard it made all other aspects of living better. Teddy did better the more fit I could keep.him. so perhaps if you can think of yourself as a occupational therapist helping her day to day life it will help.

[blob]

Blob. Wrt riding MM. I felt so bad exercising Teddy until one of my pupils mother, who had severe COPD would run while her daughter rode. She told me that even though running was very hard it made all other aspects of living better. Teddy did better the more fit I could keep.him. so perhaps if you can think of yourself as a occupational therapist helping her day to day life it will help.

Thanks, Chisamba, this is a helpful way to think about it. Once we get past this flare and hopefully into a quieter winter my goal is to get her as fit as I can so that she can better manage future flares. And for the time being even while the flare is going on we will do some exercise because I really do think it helps

[exvet]

Straightforward--I do think the judging is more conservative/harder in championship classes and I think that is totally fine/fair! For the judge that scored us fairly low (61) it seemed like the main complaint was that we were too quick. My trainer does not think this was the case and thinks perhaps this is just the nature of tiny pony legs. But we never got that comment last year and so I wonder if we are not quite getting the level of collection or sit they want to see at first level and so what is a nice forward horse at training level is feeling too quick at first? Not sure! I do think I need to sort out the balance/way of going they're looking for at first before moving to 2nd even if we can do the movements. So, I will probably stick at first a bit longer than I planned. In fact, I am tentatively aiming for an early december show. It's our last one in the area until February and of course weather in december is a total toss up. It'll also be probably the first time many judges are judging on the new tests, so should be interseting all around, but seems worth doing. So, time to make sure I know the new 1-3.

I do know and have lived the pony dilemma, more so with the stinker pony than my others. I ended up moving ahead and making up for the 'marks' because his lateral work was so good. Another thing that also helped was I really emphasized the transitions in the lengthenings and later the mediums which I thankfully was rewarded for but I would still occasionally the 'too quick' comment when I felt Morgan had clearly performed in the same tempo throughout.

[blob]

Exvet--I definitely think I can slow him down, the question is will someone then say we don't have enough impulsion? Unclear. I've shown so little at first level that I think a few more shows will help me figure it out while I play with things. It's possible once we have a bit more sit and collection that's all it will take. Or maybe I do need to ride slooowww in the test compared to what I think we need to school at home. Or maybe other judges won't feel the same way. I definitely do need to show more difference between lengthenings and coming back. In the trot I can definitely show a distinct difference. In the canter it's funny becuase when I ask for lengthenings they feel BIG and then i look at the video and they definitely do not look big, haha.

[Chisamba]

Speed is the enemy of impulsion. Especially with ponies.

I think the.most significant detractors for judging at championship shows is order of go.

For example I showed fourth level on three consecutive days. The second day I absolutely rode my best test. I reviewed my lowest score. Why? I think it was because the judge was judging all the FEI levels and then did fourth. Well fourth level changes and pirouette and mediums do not compare favorably with grand prix.

I think it should be a rule that show secretaries have to schedule order of go by level.

I guess it's not feasible but I have found it makes a difference. But there is a reason why international championships establish order of go by scires

[Moutaineer]

I also think it has something to do with championship classes having 2 judges. Makes it much harder to skate some things through...

I'm back home from our lovely vacation. Hpwever I have some dreadful upper respiratory gumboo of course--public transport and granchildren--so still no barn for me for a couple of days.

[Tanga]

Speed is the enemy of impulsion. Especially with ponies.

I think the.most significant detractors for judging at championship shows is order of go.

For example I showed fourth level on three consecutive days. The second day I absolutely rode my best test. I reviewed my lowest score. Why? I think it was because the judge was judging all the FEI levels and then did fourth. Well fourth level changes and pirouette and mediums do not compare favorably with grand prix.

I think it should be a rule that show secretaries have to schedule order of go by level.

I guess it's not feasible but I have found it makes a difference. But there is a reason why international championships establish order of go by scires

Yes and no. For awhile there, it was the trend to have a lot of speed in dressage from the local levels to the highest. It's slowly going back.

It's almost impossible to schedule classes from lowest to highest. Our champs are big enough usually the same judges judge the same level all day. But often here, as was last time, it was almost 100 every day, so they need to put the FEI classes first thing in the morning.

But, order of go IN the class makes a big difference. Almost always the scores go higher as the class goes along. Generally, understandably, judges are not going to score very high right off. Three years ago I was basically first in every single class and it was very clear the rides at the beginning were always scoring lower than at the end.

International shows where they put them in reverse order of first scores works e same ways. It helps confirm that those same riders and horses will get the highest scores.

I don't think there is any real answer to fix it. It's the way it is.

[Lipsmackerpony88]

I had a lesson on Lynx this am. We tackled working by all the scary things and he was very good. Did a little bit of leg yield and some shoulder in at the walk. Probably a good 20 to 25 minutes of walking. When I picked up the trot He felt very weird like we were treading in super deep sand or mud. Looks like the left hind which is the opposite of the bad stifle. I'm supposed to have a lesson tomorrow with the eventer and she kind of thinks I'm a hypochondriac. Lol I'm waiting to hear back from my vet But would anybody be willing to take a peek at some videos and tell me that I'm not crazy? To me it looks pretty obvious...

It's frustrating because he was so relaxed and good otherwise...

[exvet]

I bet it's frustrating LPS. Hopefully your vet will give you feedback that will help, and the issue isn't serious.

I had to suck it up and body clipped Junior this morning, He was so darn shaggy and really struggling in the heat. I think he realized the why behind it because not only did he stand great for bathing (it's taken me this long to get him to accept the hose) but he was totally in zen mode while I clipped every inch of him.

I had a lesson yesterday on Brandon. It was a really good one in that Molly had me connect Brandon first inside rein to inside hind then gradually add the outside hand. If his poll went up or he got fussy we went back to square one. I did this in all 3 gaits living on the figure eight LOL. When he was quick to seek the hand and fill up the connection in both reins, we got to do 'something else' - usually leg yield down the long side or a trot lengthening across the diagonal or just something else. Brandon is so stinkin smart he really started to quiet his mouth, ride into the connection and stay steady. Got on him this morning to see if he remembered and yup, he 'gets the exercise'. Thinking about taking pictures of him just to see if there's a big change in his topline now that I can actually get him to use his back.

Tomorrow, my daughter and I are going to audit an Amelia Newcomb clinic. If I get home before it's too late I hope to long line both boys. We'll see.

[Flight]

Lipsmacker- share the vids, I dont have the greatest eye but maybe can see something.

My comp was cancelled due to rain. In a way I'm relieved but on the other hand I do need that first comp at a new level over and done with. Between rain, I have gone through the test at home from start to finish (Inter 1) and we make some mistakes, so I do have lots to work on.

[Lipsmackerpony88]

https://youtube.com/shorts/-X8KsZrPFRU?feature=share

https://youtube.com/shorts/O2yoSr2NFis?feature=share

I can pm ridden videos. Abscess? SI? Or other stifle is now hurt...??

[blob]

I don't see anything in those videos, but they're not ideal for checking because they are so quick and you don't see much from the side. He's also not really trotting but more jogging like a good boy to stay aside his handler

[Lipsmackerpony88]

Yes it was much more obvious in the ridden videos.

[blob]

If you want to PM them to me, I'm happy to take a peak...

[StraightForward]

Trotting towards the camera I thought I saw a tiny shortness on the RH for a couple steps, but that could also be from a rock, or as blob says, being a good boy tracking his handler. I am a little mean and make my horses canter on the lunge a bit and then try to get them into a forward trot to see if there is truly something going on. Annabelle came out funky last night and I thought she was lame when we started trotting, so I put her on the lunge and did just this. It seemed she was a little stiff/sore probably from jumping the day before, but worked out of it, and I just kept the ride a little shorter. I hope he's OK!

ExVet, I will try that with Tesla. She is getting SO much better about getting off my right leg, but I still don't get a lot of contact into the left rein most of the time, and she has started being a little "chattery" in the contact, just wanting to be slightly above the bit and bumping me off, and I don't always want to just take the reins shorter. We've been working on it this week, and of course it's about the hind legs. Her haunches were fairly sweaty after the work the other day, so it seems the strength needs to be built. We had another jumping lesson on Thursday that was... interesting. Each jump is a new adventure, and she can't seem to figure out grids, but I think it will come. I signed up for a schooling show today Intro C and T-1, so of course we finally got some rain last night and a 25 degree temperature drop. Hopefully it won't be too blustery, but if I'm flying a horse kite and never get on, so be it.

[Lipsmackerpony88]

[quote="StraightForward"]Trotting towards the camera I thought I saw a tiny shortness on the RH for a couple steps, but that could also be from a rock, or as blob says, being a good boy tracking his handler. I am a little mean and make my horses canter on the lunge a bit and then try to get them into a forward trot to see if there is truly something going on. Annabelle came out funky last night and I thought she was lame when we started trotting, so I put her on the lunge and did just this. It seemed she was a little stiff/sore probably from jumping the day before, but worked out of it, and I just kept the ride a little shorter. I hope he's OK!"

Yeah we usually would push through a little more but since he had such a long warm-up in walk, my trainer didn't feel it was likely to work out of it- she felt being conservative given how lame he was was the best choice. He was weight bearing but definitely obviously lame behind under saddle. I'm going to give him a few days, keep an eye on a potential abscess and then if not better get the vet out. Ugh!

[Ryeissa]

I've always seen something in Lynx, as you know. Bummer. There can be compensation in the other leg too. Hope you get on the right track soon

[Lipsmackerpony88]

Sounds like the trainer pushed him a bit at the canter on Thursday, so now I'm wondering if he was just sore. I talked to her about backing down a bit. He's going to get today off too and I might hop on for a light ride on Monday just to see how he's doing. I trotted him in hand yesterday again, It does seem to be so much more apparent under saddle. We will see if it continues that way...

[Chisamba]

As this bimonthly goal draws to an end I'm ready, I think for my surgery on Wednesday. Just have to pass a negative covid test tomorrow.

I was going to hand friends ride my horses but I think I'll rest Kimba instead. She doesn't seem to enjoy other riders too much.

I will probably be online for horse next week so forgive me if I make millions of comments and posts

[Lipsmackerpony88]

Best of luck Chisamba. We are thinking of you and I hope you recovery goes well. We all will look forward to more comments and post about horse stuff from you

[khall]

Lsp could it be saddle?

Chisamba good luck! I hope your surgery and recovery goes well. Will be thinking of you!! Is Saiph doing better?

Well Joplin and I have our second schooling show under our belts! I could not be happier!:). First she loaded beautifully and traveled well. Got there got her settled in her stall long enough to grab our number then took her for a stroll around to check the show atmosphere out. She was unfazed by the busy schooling show. Put her back in and saddled her up. Walked her to the warmup and crawled on her with a a fairly busy warmup arena going. She just went in and went to work. No concern about all the horses though she would lay her ears back if a horse got to close coming towards her lol mares! First time I’ve cantered her with that many other horses cantering with us. She was a gem. The only thing she looked at with any concern was in the competition arena as we were going around the outside she got to see the warm up jump arena. She was a bit wide eyed took a hard look then never looked again. The judge thought she was worried about them. Nope was not concerned about the judges box at all. So nice to ride such a composed mare! Almost a bit too composed! Could have had a bit more umph to direct in the tests lol!! She broke right lead both tests. But ended up getting an 8 on our right lead canter lengthening so it’s there I just need a bit more jazzing up for the tests themselves. And our entry CLs were pretty wiggly. Broke 60% both tests though brought down in test 3 with 2 errors. Had a caller and still turned wrong. Sigh.

Got lots of oh what a pretty horse. Some wanted her:). They loved how calm and composed she was. So have our homework hope to show again next month but really could not be happier with my buckskin girl. Could no more have done that with Rip ever without going splat. He was always a goon the first day off the farm.

[Lipsmackerpony88]

Khall, I just had the saddle checked probably a month and a half ago? I said it was fitting good but they did add a tiny bit of flocking but not much. So I don't think so but I can play around with a half pad if they did say there's room for one that's not very thick.

I'm glad the show went so well It sounds like it was a really fun time!!

[Chisamba]

Saiph is doing way better. Her x-rays are good and she is tack walking except when we were attacked by yellow jackets and centered away. Lol

[StraightForward]

Best of luck with the surgery Chisamba!

I am also closing out early as I'm on a work trip and will probably only get 2 more rides this month.

Self:
Starting DRT 2 on the 5th Doing well, I'm on week six, started repeating weeks with the idea of finishing in the to start DRT 3 in January.
Train for a half marathon the day before my 45th birthday? It's a race I've done a couple times before. They just announced they'll be holding it for the first time since Covid-world. I haven't run more than 5 miles since my ankle got bunged up when Rosette bucked me off August 2016, so this is a stretch goal! I don't know who this person was who thought she had the time and energy for this.

Annabelle
Jump 1x per week Pretty good here. I'm getting better at jumping.
Keep working on suppleness over the back yes, instructor noticed a difference when she saw us early October

Square halts and getting the legs under Forgot to focus on this much

Tesla
Keep working on canter quality Yes. Started asking her to take more weight behind and she has had some balky moments in the last week as a result, so we revisited forward, hell or highwater this morning, but it's all going the right direction.
Lateral work to develop the suppleness Yes
Survive the show I signed up for September 24th.Bonus points, we made three schooling shows this period and I'm still alive. Feeling good about taking her to "real" shows next year.
Extra bonus - started jumping her. It is still a comedy of errors but she is getting the idea.

Other
I'm moving Obie over to my main barn this weekend. He's been at the old barn for over 13 years, so hopefully it's not a hard adjustment for him.
In addition to getting his feet in order, I am going to throw all the feeding programs on the table and try to do some rethinking to try to keep all three on as much as the same things as I can while adjusting for their individual needs and hopefully not breaking the bank in the process.A barn closure scare led me to finding another spot for him. The persistent cannon scurf he has had for years cleared up, and the new place has sandy soils that should be good for his feet. He'll go there next week.

[Lipsmackerpony88]

Good job SF!

The barn "rolfer" put her hands on Lynx and agreed that there felt like there was at least some stifle strain or something in the area. I had my husband holding him for a few minutes while I was instructing my daughter for something and got him standing like this which I do not like. One of the telltale signs about the other stifle was him standing funky which eventually my vet also agreed was something to pay attention too. Arg.

[exvet]

I will be thinking nothing but healing vibes Chisamba. You'll be back in the saddle in no time and a force to be reckoned with once you have the bionic hip.

khall - congrats. I know how awesome it is when your homebred steps up to the plate.

Sounds like progress SF!

LSP - your vet is right. Wish I could say something different; but stifles are tricky and then there's the compensatory factors too.

I went out this morning to feed and everyone was fine. I had a CE course to complete (live webinar) so I decided to ride later in the morning. I went back out and Brandon was all stoved up/stocked up on both hinds...........sh!t head. I can only guess that he either tried to double barrel someone and hit the fence (all pipe rail) or he rolled and got caught in the pipe rail though he had no abrasions at all. He seemed sound so he I took him out on the trail. Sure, enough when we got back home, no edema/swelling...........now several hours later he's stocked up again but not as bad. Horses.........I think they put more gray hairs on our heads then kids do.

[Kyras_Mom]

LSP--I hope you can get things shussed out. Kyra has a fussy stifle and when she was young, I kept getting told she would grow out of it. She didn't. But therapy work and dressage has seemed to keep her remarkably sound. No...her gaits are not world beating and we've both missed the boat(more my fault than hers) on going up the levels but she is still a fun ride and I think I will keep her .

Trying to enjoy the seemingly endless summer (temps in the mid 70's with sun, sun sun), I spent most of the week just riding. No schooling...just forward trot and canter. I did get some video week before last and I did notice her canter was kind of ground bound, flat and her hind leg a little slow(nothing really new ) so spent some time just cruising forward with a bit more bounce. Thursday, we got to go on a trail ride up the hill again and she was great. She is getting more confident and in fact, she led for about 2/3 of the ride including managing some uphill trots. I let my riding partner lead the way back down the hill and Kyra gave an audible sigh that someone else was doing the hard work of leading . We met several hikers and she handled all of it well.

Well, our summer came to a crashing end and it feels more like early winter. Temps 25 degrees lower and rain and wind. Yesterday, I didn't think any of the arenas were open after our overnight rain dump so was planning to just walk the road on the property a couple laps but did find out the small arena was open. It was quite firm rather than soupy so just did some more trot and canter and she seemed a little cautious with the footing as I left her hoof boots off. Today, I got her back in dressage mode and was requesting her to go promptly from the leg and I wanted a bit more through-ness. She thought about calling the union but I was able to get her a bit softer over the topline.
I finished up with some shoulder-in in walk and trot and TOH in walk then straight into canter working on the hind leg and engaging the inside hind.

Susan

[Lipsmackerpony88]

Exvet, they do give us gray hairs! Always something to worry about!! Hopefully nothing to worry about .

Susan, I actually am starting to think that there is some mild stifle catching or slipping going on. So we might need to address that more head on. My thinking is that we might need to adjust something to aid the "physical therapy." It could be a shoeing / trim change, checking his SI, trying estrone or even using equioxx for comfort while we get to a place of strength. Maybe even do in hand work only for a bit. I don't know.

I'm frustrated but I'm not hopeless...yet!

[Ryeissa]

agree with stifles. As I said when you bought him- stifles need REST.
Honestly if this was my horse (not that you are asking) but I do massage professionally and I'm an equine nutrition advisor so I see a lot of clients- I'd give him 4 months of rest to heal any acute issues and assess fresh in the new year.
Remember that my horse had a serious stifle in injury and I have first hand experience.

[blob]

LSP, sorry this has been such a challenge. I can't remember -- did you guys xray the stifles? If not, might be worth doing so! Sorry if it's something you've discussed already, my memory is a total mess these days

[Aleuronx]

LSP I'm so bummed for you. Stifles are a blindspot for me that I hope to never have to be 'educated' about. I have had friends mounts deal with estrone etc as young horses and turn around completely with good management, so there is hope.

It's be a busy quiet few weeks if that makes sense. We had a stunning lesson about a week ago where the right rein connection was more of a conversation than a brawl. Our second set was just marvelous with trainer calling out this or that movement and us just riding in the moment. Who knew we had canter serpentines and bouncey collected canter on a 10m circle? And real active trot shoulder-in with push power! I was dancing in the saddle afterwards and grinning ear to ear.

Have we had that feeling since? Hell no But pieces here and there so we keep working at it. Along with enjoying the last bits of New England outdoor freedom in the fields and elsewhere. I got a crazy hair and loaded her up on a beautiful warm day to go to the beach. She was so good, spice for sure but we just hacked and mooched on the sand, huge praise and called it a day. Thank goodness for neck straps!

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[Ryeissa]

Not much new here- still working on 3rd level with Riot.

[Lipsmackerpony88]

LSP, sorry this has been such a challenge. I can't remember -- did you guys xray the stifles? If not, might be worth doing so! Sorry if it's something you've discussed already, my memory is a total mess these days

Blob, his stifles were x-rayed during the PPE and were clean at the time, everything was clean actually. In August the right stifle was ultrasounded with some findings So that's why we did the pro stride, Adequan and slowly brought him back to work.

No new images have been taken on the left yet but I suspect that will be soon.

I think he is having perhaps intermittent upward patella fixation or delayed release. And I think we do really need to address that more head-on as well.

It's definitely frustrating but we certainly haven't done everything yet. I think it's possible that the rehab needs to be much slower than what has been understood by my trainers.

[Lipsmackerpony88]

agree with stifles. As I said when you bought him- stifles need REST.
Honestly if this was my horse (not that you are asking) but I do massage professionally and I'm an equine nutrition advisor so I see a lot of clients- I'd give him 4 months of rest to heal any acute issues and assess fresh in the new year.
Remember that my horse had a serious stifle in injury and I have first hand experience.

Ryeissa, He has been given rest multiple times over the last year and a half. When I bought him he ended up having almost 4 months off unless you count us bringing him in to bathe him or do a little hand walking. And every vet I have consulted has insisted that he stays in work since his glutes are weaker.

May I ask what the stifle injury was? CSU said that on the ultrasound they did not see any evidence of a meniscus tear or anything.

The hard part is he seems to look better the more he works until he doesn't. I just don't think the vets are seeing the whole picture maybe.

[Lipsmackerpony88]

I know some people seem to think I'm just stressing Lynx into work but I'm not working with backyard country vets- I've had some of the top sports medicine vets out of Colorado to see him. Along with bodywork every month. Everybody is adamant that the worst thing I can do is not exercise him. Now do we need to just do groundwork for a little instead and take it slower? Perhaps but every vet and body worker have consulted is adamant that that stifle needs to move! Especially since there's a small amount of osteoarthritis beginning in the right.

But again I do feel like we just don't have it 100% right yet. But before this he was improving a lot again. The trainer told me she had canter poles on Thursday and I think that was too soon. Like way too soon.

[Lipsmackerpony88]

And maybe he just isn't going to hold up to work I don't know. But I know that a lot of people make it through stifle issues in young horses so I'm going to at least give it this year to see what happens. If not then I'll retire him and go from there. But it seems a little silly to be so just distraught when we haven't done nearly everything we can. With rehab alone we can make a lot of changes. And I will once again ask the vets if he needs time off but every time I do they act like I am the stupidest person on earth and tell me stifles need strength.

If I sound irritated it's just because I'm very frustrated. I have a long history of me having to beg the vets to take me seriously. I've spent all year worried about this stifle when they did it be told for the longest time by multiple vets that he just needed strength and that nothing was going on inside the stifle they were sure. And then when we go ahead and ultrasound boom there is stuff going on.

[khall]

Lsp I’ve dealt with stifle issues and have never had one stand camped under like that so I did some research and it seems hoof angle can be a big issue causing this stance. Good read here

https://blog.easycareinc.com/is-your-ho ... ly-a-goat/

The issues I’ve faced in stifles have been
1. Bilateral ocd lesions with L worse than R. Quit riding at 7 for a time until I found oral HA. Worked great and she went back to work and stayed sound until she foundered at 20 from dex

2. Sticky stifle. Joplin and Rip both have had a sticky R stifle. It’s never bothered either of them.

3. Arthritic stifle. Chex was bought knowing he has changes in the stifle. Sound riding but flexes off. Adequan for maintenance

4. Rip in his heavier work days had some joint effusion. Was injected and never had another problem. Adequan for maintenance. Joplin and Gaila are on adequan

I’ve never dealt with soft tissue issues in the stifle like torn miniscus or torn ligaments. That is where I could see rest being needed but all the other issues I’ve dealt with it was work to make them stronger that kept them sound. Gallie when she foundered and had to be stalled for 10 months came out so lame of her LH the worst affected by ocd. Did Irap and she came sound but never went truly back to work.

Good luck! I feel for you. Horses can absolutely break our hearts sometimes

[Lipsmackerpony88]

Khall, yeah he doesn't normally stand camped under and in fact after the post stride he has been standing super square. Besides standing camped under the he is standing with his left hand out although it's hard to see. More and more I'm thinking his left stifles bothering him. We just took hoof x-rays at the beginning of the summer because some of his angles were getting kind of wonky and then we switched farriers. I don't know if it is a coincidence but either way something's going on.

As far as your stifle advice that all seems to kind of add up for what the vets have been telling me so far. Thank you!

[Moutaineer]

Lsp, any chance you can get him out consistently walking on hills rather than arena work for a bit? I know its not the easiest thing to do in the winter in the west!

He's still very young and developing. I see the youngsters at the barn i board at go through some pretty funky growth stuff. The practice seems to be just to keep them in slow steady careful work.

I certainly wouldn't be doing canter or even trot poles with him. I went to a cavaletti clinic a while ago. The trainer was very insistent about what hard work it was even for experienced, fit horses, and how this work should be approached for short sessions and judiciously.

Poles aren't that much different, as they are designed to make the horse move differently and more extravagantly, and as I grow older and have the equivalent of dodgy stifles I can see that I'd have to approach that concept very carefully!

I'm still off. Went to the doctor yesterday. I have a chest and sinus infection so now I'm on the good drugs and heavy duty abx. I still feel pretty dreadful but at least the codeine cough syrup knocked me out for the night last night.

(Apropos of absolutely nothing, I'm so glad I changed from the big hospital clinic to the little local clinic for my primary care. I called up at 9am on a Monday and had an appointment by 11am with someone who knows who I am, gives a damn and had actually read my notes.)

[Lipsmackerpony88]

Mountaineer there are some "hills" around the barn that we walk up regularly. We are lucky to have anything because it's rare here!

I agree about the poles. I know the common stifle advice is to do poles but I certainly think canter is (obviously too much.) And trot poles feel too much unless it's like a single pole.

We are going to give him two weeks off (vet thinks it looks like a stifle or SI muscle sprain on video.) Then reevaluate. I'm hoping we can keep other stifle in good health!! I think I'm going to stop training rides and maybe back off of lessons. I feel pressured at times but I wish to take things slower.

Hope you feel better M!

[Kyras_Mom]

Sounds like a good plan LSP. The only one that has the clock is you. I didn’t get Kyra into the show ring until she was 8. Until I had the mouth issue diagnosed and remediated, it would have done no good to take her to a show and show the judges just how tense and distracted she could be. Better to get him right now.

I had a great ride today. I think she is appreciating the cooler weather. I am going to do a trace clip but I don’t want to do it just yet since she is still in the middle of growing in a heavy coat. I’m lazy and don’t want to do it twice. So, she had good energy but nicely relaxed. The footing finally dried out enough to work and it had more spring. That last two rides where it was so firm, she was holding back a little. We worked serpentines today, first in trot, then In trot with a transition to walk across CL then back to trot then took it up to canter with a simple change across CL. She maintained better straightness especially changing right to left. We finished up with a bit of SI then into half-pass. She tends to lose her bend and forward in HP so today, since I had nice lines about 6-7 feet apart from the arena groomer, I asked for HP to the next line then forward in SI then HP to the next line and back to SI. That worked very nicely at keeping things together better and I wasn’t waiting for things to fall apart. We got 3 nice reps each direction. I felt she was more through and had better impulsion today. Now I just have to figure out how to keep the oomph as I ask for some collection. We finished with our ride around the property and bless her heart, has she settled down. I was riding up the back road which is up a hill…as she was busy keeping an eye on the quail, 2 deer spooked the horse in turnout who snorted and ran to the other side of the turnout which spooked the deer who went bounding up the hill a few yards. All this was about 20 yards from where we were. She stopped and stuck her head in the air and went…oh, just some deer and on we went. I wouldn’t have dreamed of that level of indifference from her in my lifetime. Now if she could get that same reaction to birds .

Susan

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As this bimonthly goal draws to an end I'm ready, I think for my surgery on Wednesday. Just have to pass a negative covid test tomorrow.

Chisamba, will be thinking about you, hope the surgery goes well today and that you are able to stay comfortable in the days after!

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closing out because even though I will ride in the upcoming days, I'm ready to think ahead to the next bimester!

Me:
Exercise outside of riding, even if just walking I managed to do some of this actually, but need to do a lot more
Eat healthy/cook more went ok until travel got in the way
Keep trailer practicing!

RP:
Go to regionals in Oct(?): I haven't shown since Nov, so this might be a mess, but also we've qualified and it's fairly local, so may as well?
Continue strength training with hill work and poles
Continue lateral work, including at canter didn't really focus as much on lateral work, but our clinics pointed us in slightly different focus, so I am ok with this
Try to add a bit more weight without going too far

MM:
Ramp up work if/when weather cools down
start some focused fitness training work
practice more xc jumps and baby courses
Most of this time with MM has been dealing with another allergy flare but we have kept the riding going and hopefully Nov/Dec will provide some relief

[Moutaineer]

Late to the party, but thinking of you today, Chisamba!