I was gobsmacked. He felt fantastic under saddle. Willing and cheerful and moving great. But I pulled the saddle and checked his back and yeah: sore over the loins. Insert unprintable commentary. Tweaked our padding and shortened my stirrups a hole and tried again this morning with the same results. Horse went great...and when stripped, horse was sore.
I am at a loss, you guys. The farrier is already coming out this week. That's my last Hail Mary pass: maybe this shoeing cycle, though well within bounds on paper, just stretched on a little too far. Other than that, all I've got is continued saddle-searching (which is absolutely on tap for the winter, but no way to adequately test anything else I could get my hands on this week, so...), veterinary intervention (maybe he needs the hocks done again, but we're too close to the ride for that and he is showing zero symptoms under-saddle), and bodywork (but he historically gets weirded out for a little while by bodywork, which makes it a dicey last-minute intervention).
So farrier it is, and he'll get the rest of the week off, and then -- what? I guess I just cross my fingers and go. If he weren't moving well, or didn't seem happy and comfortable under saddle...but he is, and he does. Honestly, he's going so well and carrying himself so uphill and through that I half-wonder if he's sore on account of (over)using muscles that have been not so much called on during this summer of no dressage. Even if, though, for purposes of a 50 on the 19th, sore is sore is sore.
I have no idea how to tack him for the ride. I had been planning to start in the Passier, because it's the best option for me and seemed to be working for him, but that feels like a bad bet after this weekend. I guess now I put him under the Wintec and hope that it doesn't turn out that I just hadn't tested it thoroughly enough to find its downside? Or do I put my jump saddle back in play, even though I haven't so much as set it on his back since the most recent adjustment, since we had dry patches and then twice swelling and the idea makes me sick, but he he did 75 ride miles in it this summer without coming in sore?
I feel like a tool and I am pretty sure the ride is going to be a disaster and I am frustrated by the whack-a-mole nature of the problem. But even a weekend with a pull at GMHA is probably better than a weekend anywhere else.
(Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh, you guys. Just: Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh.)
On the bright side, a new clipper blade and drive assembly made for a relatively unembarrassing clip job. I guess all is not lost.
 |
| Saturday at the swamp. |
 |
| Sunday morning on the powerlines. |
I'm soooo sorry for your losses, Hannah. Dogs are so much a part of our families and losing one is awful and with it coming just before another loss in your family, it sounds like you're having a rough time.
ReplyDeleteAnd that sucks about Tucker's back. By bodywork, did you mean massage or chiropractor? There might be something you could do on your own to see if you can get more information about the soreness without stressing your horse out too much. I've had really good luck just basically running my fingers along Nimo's bladder meridian on both sides. If that's not something you're familiar with, you can probably google an image for a better description than I can write, but it starts at the poll and continues along the neck, back, over the rump and down the hind leg. What I do is something recommended by Jim Masterson. It's just running my fingers along the bladder meridian with a light pressure. Just doing that seems to release tension and help me identify problem areas. Anyway, I thought I'd mention it in case it could help. Good luck!
Thanks, Gail. I made it through the weekend in good order, but am feeling pretty flat today. Hopefully I'll have my feet back under me by hauling time.
ReplyDeleteHe's had routine massage and chiro in the past, and found both short- but not long-term helpful (and got good reports from the bodyworkers; nobody ever wanted to put him on a more frequent schedule or otherwise be more aggressive about the intervention). He's also had occasional accupuncture and I've been impressed with the results; that will probably be my next step if he stays sore and we rule out the hocks. (Spendy, though!)
The back-soreness is not a new phenomenon -- we even took some X-rays of his spine as one point to rule out kissing vertebrae (the rads are bee-you-tee-full) -- and this 4+ month stretch is the longest he's gone in years without being sore. I was chalking it up to a tweaking of his saddle set-up and my riding style. Historically he feels Not Good under saddle (though he often looks fine from the ground) when he's sore and I have a Deep Sense of Creeping Dread. Neither of those factors is in play this time, which I'm hoping is a good sign and maybe we'll be able to just track down some minor variable or shorten his trim cycle a week or whatever and all will be well. We'll see...
It sounds like you're pretty in tune with what's going on:) And I agree that bodywork is indeed expensive, although worth it if it helps. I've never seen a lot of benefit from chiropractic work on my horse, and even a massage therapist didn't have any impact that I could see, despite obvious stiffness. My horse can be uncomfortable with people he doesn't know touching him in any significant way, which may be a big part of it. Honestly, the best he's ever felt was when I was doing a little massage myself on his poll and neck several times a week plus doing a ton of conditioning work outside the arena and a lot of lateral and bending work in the arena. If I could just get to the point where I could reproduce that now...
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I'm glad to hear it's unlikely to be anything serious and curious to find out what ends up working:)