Final wrap-ups, the good and bad

Final wrap-ups are underway and this will be a short post with a bunch of points in it.  Bad blogger, but I really don't have time to document it all out.  Sorry folks. TWH has now left, it was so sad but he seems happy at his new barn.  I hope they do well together.

I had our last ride with K.  Since my jump standards are packed up already, I made jumps out of 2 cinder blocks and then used my mounting block to make 2 small little jumps.  Mia was awesome for most of it.  When we started she was very excited and I had to haul on her pretty hard to bring her back after the fences.  At one point she jumped and tried rooting the reins, making me tweak my back.  Thanks mare.  I got her back though and she was doing quite well with a balanced canter after the jump.  Progress indeed.

I our my last ride with 2 different friends, people, did you hear that?  I rode 3 times in one week!  On purpose!  I haven't done that since September!  Unfortunately it was my last ride until I get to PA though, then hopefully I can start riding regularly again.  Mia was great on her little trail ride and App was very behaved. Win!

Dr A came out for App's follow up visit today, finally.  He was supposed to be out over this past weekend and cancelled.  Nothing like waiting till the last minute!  At the last visit, we blocked Apps' leg from the splint down and had no improvement, Dr A thought it was his knee.  I have been thinking it is his shoulder after giving him a quick ride over the weekend.  After blocking his entire knee with no improvement, Dr A had to agree.  When we flexed App's leg all the way forward and up on his right, App had no concern.  When we did it with the left, App almost sat down in an attempt to get away.  We can't xray his shoulder with the travel unit and we wouldn't necessarily see anything with an xray anyway.  Dr A said the three options are rest, injecting the shoulder or a MRI.  I have already tried option 1 with no improvement and I have no time for option 3 so we did option 2.  We injected his shoulder with some steroids with a (OMG HUGE) spinal needle.  He now gets 2 days of stall rest (certainly not cutting it close or anything, right) and if not better, I need to follow up with a vet in PA for further diagnosis.  Boo. Big ol boo.

Originally I had 3 of my MI friends that wanted to go to PA with me.  First K backed out when she realized it was Easter.  Then RB4 backed out as she says she is being offered double time to work over the weekend and needs the money.  That leaves my last friend, S.  With there now being only one, if she backs out I am by myself.  That means my horses now need impeccable manners, since the trailer is packed and hooked up we have been practicing loading and unloading.  I was truly surprised by App.  Back in the day he was horrible.  He was the 45-60 min loader who needed to be pulley roped into the trailer.  We fixed that to have him load, but now you have to lead him on and you HAVE to have a chain on his nose.  The last time we hauled him, it was up to see Dr A at the hospital when TWH had his ultrasound, that was 2013.  I walked App up to the trailer and led him on and he wasn't that hesitant.  Nice!  We unloaded and loaded again.  No problem.  This morning I tried again but this time I had both App and Mia. I asked App to load by himself.  He wasn't sure but a smack with the lead rope put him in the trailer.  OMG people, this is HUGE!  I gave him huge pats, a treat and unloaded him and tried again.  He wasn't happy about it but he got on without being led on.  WOW.  So happy!

I have always put Mia in the front partition of the trailer when hauling, since she was bad when I got her it was just easier when TWH couldn't care either way.  Last night was the first time loading in the rear stall and Mia wasn't sure about it.  The first time she got on but wasn't comfortable.  I unloaded her and loaded her again, she put her front feet on but then hopped out.  I smacked her and she loaded but then immediately unloaded.  I put her back in and hooked the butt bar, let her stand and unloaded.  This AM after I put App on, I put Mia on.  Well tried.  She decided to say Nope, No Thanks.  She put her front feet on 4 times and each time back out immediately, bad mare.  I warned her there would be consequences of her actions and she didn't heed the warning.  I grabbed (what I now affectionately call, thanks to Carly) Mr Spanky.  Mr Spanky introduced himself to Mia a couple of times and Mia hopped on the trailer.  I let her stand there and then backed her out.  We tried again and she put her front feet on and stood there.  A quick spank had Mia up in the trailer.  We unloaded and tried one last time, Mia leapt into the trailer.  Well, I will take that over the refusals.

The plan is to do this twice a day until Friday.  This way come Friday, both appys will have no issues loading and when I unload them during the trip, it shouldn't be any big deal to load them back up.  Fun times!  Keep your fingers crossed for me, the farm closes on Thursday and we leave Friday am with the horses.  Come back Sunday and leave Tuesday for good.  That is only one week away!