Monday, September 18, 2017

Lesson prep, show prep!

Ah....yes.  When we last left off, Mia had finally recovered from her knee injury and abscess and we were finally ready to move forward.  I had bought a tub of KrudZapper per Carly's review of it and was using it to remove the last bits of "crud" on her legs, it wasn't really cruddy but the areas have been discolored all year.  I made a comment to the barn owner that I was using it for her scratches and it was working great around the time the abcess was an issue.  The weekend after Labor Day, she came in with a huge hind leg, she had a cut on the inside hind leg that got infected and her whole leg was swollen and hot.  Seriously!  I was really annoyed because the previous weekend, she had a half dozen hairless scrapes on her hock areas.  On that Tuesday she had a small cut on the inside of her left hind and another on the outside of her right hind, but neither was sore or swollen.  I doctored them up, rode, all was fine.  I got a text on Friday that her leg was swollen and they thought she had issues from her "scratches".

First, she does NOT HAVE actual scratches.  She hasn't had actual scratches since I have owned her.  The fact the barn is telling people the leg swelling was a result of her tendency to have scratches really pisses me off.  Second, the "scratches" had zero to do with her leg being swollen.  A 5 second look at her showed the reason her leg was swollen was a pretty big cut/puncture on the inside of her leg, halfway between her stifle and hock.  OMFG.  The entire leg was huge and quite hot and she was lame on it.  I was so angry because the barn staff didn't actually look at her leg, they just threw this random "scratches" claim around.

Saturday she barely let me touch her leg and she proved her saint-ness as she tolerated an iodine wash/cold hose/Neosporin treatment without totally flipping her lid.  She came really close to flipping it though, she was really at her patience breaking point when I finally gave up.  She hadn't kicked out, just held her leg way up/out/away.  She hadn't reared, really, and hadn't bitten anyone (lol) but she could not stand still and was very angrily shaking her head/neck/body so I called it a day after working on it for about 15 minutes.  We repeated the ordeal on Sunday and on Sunday she at least let me touch/handle the cut and leg.  The leg was still huge, but the entire leg wasn't hot, just the area around the cut, so that was progress.  We did this routine every day until Tuesday, in addition to SMZ's and bute, before her leg finally came down in size.  Phew.

I rode her last Wednesday for the first time and her scab came off while we were riding (likely from her tail bag) but she was fine with me putting (even) more Neosporin on it.  It was big and looks ugly, but much better.  Saturday I rode a quick dressage ride and the scab stayed on.  She was a very good mare for our ride.  She is really out of shape, a 30 minute medium/high intensity workout was a bit much for her, but tried everything I asked and wasn't super sassy.  We finished with our dressage test and while it isn't great, she did a good job with it considering her time off.

Yesterday we went on a 2+ hour trail ride with some barn ladies and it was a really nice ride.  Mia is such a rockstar on trails anymore, I so vividly remember barely being able to get her to walk a straight line without spooking and now she doesn't care while everyone else is super looky.  Yay Mia!  She was very hot and sweaty, much more than everyone else, despite it being a 98% walk ride.  She got a good hosing and thrown outside to relax.  Tonight I have a dressage rider coming to look at Mia for a possible lease situation.  Apparently she rides 2-3rd level and is looking for something to toodle around on.  Mia has never had anyone else ever seriously ride her, if I could have some dressage training put on her?  Hmm, that would be awesome.  It would only be for 1-2 days a week and I'm not even sure if I will go through with it, but it is intriguing enough that I am contemplating it.

This Friday I have my first lessons since January?  February?  I am really excited for it, I want to really work on Mia's canter, my position and getting relaxation.  This weekend we have a small fun show, a Novice CT.  We aren't really ready for it, but we can get around a stadium course without being fit so I entered.  Let's hope she can stay sound until next weekend.  I did tell the barn that if she gets hurt again, I am putting her and App back together and they will have to figure something out in regards to their herds.  She never got hurt with App and this is her 3rd injury so far this summer and no one ever knows how it happens.  I am tired of having an injured horse.