Sunday, December 21, 2008

Yes, I still have a horse

Lately I've been concentrating a lot on my surgery and my mental issues. But I do still have Kaswyn and have been trying to ride both him and Albert. However I've run into some problems there.

A few weeks ago that damn left lead canter on Kaswyn didn't feel right. I finally scheduled a lesson night and my trainer came out to help. The first thing she noticed was the he was stabbing behind, especially with the left hind. That should not have been happening since he just got his hocks injected and had been getting Legend once a month. We worked until the canter for better, but it shouldn't have taken so much to get him there.

Since my trainer had time I was able to do a short lesson on Albert. After a few minutes of warmup she says to me "You have GOT to find a way to show this horse." I knew he felt good, be apparently he looked really good as well. I know that Susan would let me show him, but money would be an issue. We're going to have to see what we can work out, because the horse really is talented and I get along with him really well. It's not the warm and fuzzy relationship that Kaswyn and I have - it's more like a mutual respect and genuine affection. We can get decent progress going, and I dig on that.

Anyhow, I gave Kaswyn a day off with bute after the lesson and then put him on the lunge line. His back end just did not look right. I pulled him back into his stall and started palpating his back. He was definitely sore on the right side, and I could also feel about halfway down his back where it appeared that a bone was shifted out of place to the side. One side of the bone was sticking out to the right, and the other side had a little cavity.

It was time to see the equine chiropractor. The problem is that this guy is good but he is not close so when he comes to our area he likes to see lots of horses in as few barns as possible. I made some calls and it turns out that he was out at most of his major barns this fall, so there are not many horses to be seen right now. But my trainer has 5 or 6 and another farm has 1 or 2, so maybe we can get him out.

The major issue is that Kaswyn is the only one at Marge's who will be seen. I don't know if he'll come there for just one horse, even though it's only 10 minutes from my trainer's barn. So I'm going to have to coordinate getting Kaswyn to my trainer's for the chiropractor. Don't forget my surgery is coming up and I'll be in bed for a week and can't do jack squat to help get my horse anywhere.

Yeah, you can say that this is adding to my stress just a tad. But I'm not getting on Kaswyn's back until the chiropractor adjusts him.

I just keep trying to convince myself that this will all work out - my surgery, the chiropractor, everything. At least Albert feels great. Now I just have to convince Susan to keep him going while I recover so I don't have to backtrack too much.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dressage Mom,

Is there a post where you introduce "Albert"? I am a newer blog follower and I'd like to know more about him (i.s. is he an Arabian, age, etc etc). Thanks!

Rising Rainbow said...

Geez, if you're the one getting the appointments all set up for the chiropractor, you'd think he would be OK with the fact Kaswyn is the only horse at the barn. Without him, this guy wouldn't be coming in the first place. I'd aske at least and see what he says.

Anonymous said...

It sounds like you and Albert are co-workers, maybe even friends, but you and Kaswyn are family.

 
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