2 saddles and still nothing to ride in

 Mia is taking rehab quite well. Fingers crossed because so far she has stayed sound and is slowly building some fitness back. One of the bigger challenges is that she is outside in a frozen pasture that is full of ruts, making it impossible to do more than a slow walk. As a result, all mobility and fitness are coming from our spins in the indoor arena. Not ideal, but at least she is staying sound. 2-4 short rides per week are helping her take it one step at a time. If the weather would cooperate, maybe we could get up to 4+ rides a week again? Hahahahaha.... JK, I live in the northeast in January. It has been super cold with quite poor weather lately. 

I know you like it mom, but it don't fit

My entire plan of using Jan/Feb as a way to really increase my fitness has been only moderately successful. I have been riding bareback pretty much exclusively since I started riding again. The plan was to start working on 2 point and such while trotting, engaging my core and getting MY fitness back. That hasn't happened as neither of my saddles are fitting her right now. Both saddles were fit/flocked back in Feb/March of last year and fit perfectly before she broke with Lyme in April. Now after spending an entire year out of work, neither fit and both saddles are bridging. 

Last night I tried some slight padding adjustments with the stuff I had at the barn without success. She certainly did not like the padding adjustments and really didn't want to go forward even after taking the extra padding off. However when I took the saddle off and hopped on bareback, she about bounced me off as she happily bounced herself into the trot. *sigh*

I guess I am now going to spend the next 2 weeks doing some real dressage work bareback as we finish the last of her trial period and then we start cantering on the 16th. I am hopeful that after getting back to work for a month, by mid March the saddles should fit again due to her developing some muscles. Right now she has virtually none. The next step will be getting someone out to reflock my saddles again, something that will need to happen anyway but I would rather do it with some muscling vs no muscling. Rehab is not quick process that is for sure! 

Happy 500(ish) posts!

I was browsing through Blogger this am and realized I have posted over 500 times, this post makes 502. Wow! It all started as a journey to document my evolution from OH to MI as I bought my own boarding farm and evolved again into a training chronicle as I moved to PA. I thought it may be fun to make a quick trip back in time and it turns out it was super fun for me. I hope you enjoy it too.

Dec 2010 I made my first post, it was my first time ever blogging and I had no idea if I would stick with it. I did it for myself, and had no followers. This was about a month after I moved the horses (App and TWH) from OH to MI. We had bought the farm in the fall and it had taken over 3 months to get the property ready for the horses. The horses came to the farm at the beginning of November even though the farm still needed a TON of work. We had bought 2 goats along with us from OH, the goats were a very poor choice. App hated them and the goats were constantly getting out of the pasture. We said goodbye to the goats and got Daisy the donkey in Dec 2010. In Feb 2011 I finally learned how to post pictures! 

Daisy was a good donkey who had been a livestock guardian for sheep. She didn't get farrier care and they were getting rid of her because she "didn't walk well". She didn't walk well because of her 6+ inches of slipper feet. Lots of rehab and x-rays later, she became much harder to catch when she was sound and comfortable. In April of 2013, we sold her to an alpaca farm to be a livestock guardian because we were having significant hay issues. Our main hay had alfalfa and she couldn't have alfalfa. Keeping her separate during hay time was becoming a very big (loud) issue and an alpaca farm was thrilled to have her. 

2011 chronicled a lot of the struggles of getting the farm up and running and we finally opened the doors to boarding in July, we were a legitimate business.. TWH went to his first hunter/jumper show and we hated it. I love my ride times TYVM. App had a disaster of a show but still placed, proving yet again he can be both Captain A-hole and Mr. Awesome.

In 2012 was the year of being broken. I tore my calf muscle. I worked with a horse in training and didn't follow my gut. I predicted the horse would hurt me and he did. I required knee surgery and had to fire a customer over it. It took a good while for us to be friends again. App was in (what ended up being) his very last show and was amazing, scoring a record low for him of 23.5%. I still wish I could have been the one on him for that.

2013 was much better and TWH started to really rock eventing before coming up sore with a hind suspensory that left him on stall rest for 6 months. During that time, App also had a huge abscess that too months to resolve (plus vet visits, drugs, and xrays) and I ended up buying Mia.

In 2014 was full of great things, TWH started to go Novice level eventing and rocked it!  Mia had her very first show and then went to her very first eventing show, TWH and I won reserve champion for year end awards in Novice eventing and I ordered my new truck. I had no idea what was about to happen in just a few weeks. 

In February of 2015 we found out we were relocating to PA. This turned out to be a year long process with a LOT of struggles. I offered TWH to the leasee who had been riding him for 2 years and she agreed to take him. Still to this day I get monthly updates and she gives him way more attention that I could. She is an awesome owner for him. Mia won her first show. We bought our house in PA in August, but I didn't move for another 7 months as I ended up having to completely remodel the MI farm house to sell it. Mia won again and was starting to show that the training was working.

2016 was the big move to PA. We finally got our house finished, listed, and sold. We moved the horses and the farm in March. Within 45 days, App got a lot worse and was permanently retired. Mia won her first show in PA and improved her dressage scores in others.

2017 had Mia's first Novice show and did well. She then proceeded to cut her leg which took her out for the summer. We did go to a small CT show our barn held and my blogging really started to drop off.

2018 had App staying mostly comfortable and Mia continued on with showing and placing. I celebrated App's birthday with a recap post and it is still one of my favorite things. Mia won more shows and we competed in a Prix Caprilli test which was super cool.

2019 was bad in many ways. App took a big turn for the worst and couldn't stay comfortable. I lost my dog, my cat, my horse, and my bio father. A dressage judge destroyed my confidence and desire to ride. At least the year started off well with Mia's Training level debut. I also rode as a unicorn on a unicorn. I let App go after 25 years, one of the hardest things I had to do but I am still 100% happy that I did it. It took me a good while to get back to "normal" and I found an instructor, A, that made a world of difference and brought back my desire to ride.

2020 was going to be OUR YEAR. Armed with lessons, Mia and I were ready to kick butt. Then Covid happened. My blogging took a nose dive. Mia came up lame. And got hurt. But we still took lessons as things relaxed and my relationship with Mia got much better. I bought a Pivo in September to document our lesson journey and Mia immediately came up lame again. After a few months and 2 vet visits, Mia's hoof angle was way out of alignment. It took a couple of months for that to fully resolve. Not a single show was attended in 2020 and the Pivo did not get the use I had planned.

Armed with the lessons from 2020, Mia and I did our homework hard over the winter to really hit 2021 with everything we had. I bought a new (to me) dressage saddle, new stirrups to help my bad knees, things were looking very good even though there were some real oddities. I renewed ALL of our memberships ($$$) and bought an entry to a recognized show during a charity auction so I couldn't back out. April came and the wheels fell off of the bus 10 days before our first show. Mia tested positive for Lyme and her numbers were pretty high. Doxy made her very inconsistent in her comfort so from May - Aug we didn't work and instead just walked. My trainer retired before I was able to take another lesson. Mia was cleared of Lyme at the end of August and we hit training hard. 8 solid days of work to enter a Beginner Novice show, I was so confident going into the show. Spoiler - she was lame again. 4 weeks of stall rest for a possible soft tissue injury in her hoof made a world of difference. Mia came off of stall rest on Dec 15th and has stayed sound (so far). We have been trotting for a week and I am hopeful that things continue on a positive path.

It's been a cool journey looking back over the years and I hope you enjoyed the trip. I am going keep blogging, for now anyway. This look back at my 500 posts really helped reinforce the joy of seeing my struggles and successes chronicled. 

Positive steps in the right direction

Slow. That is the best way to describe how things are going. We keep getting hit with subzero weather plus snow and ice storms which is making riding time scarce. Add in the fact that life has been busy, a recipe for disaster? Not quite, but close. That said, there are some things to celebrate. Since 2020/2021 was so shitty, I am trying to find the little wins. Like what you ask? Let me tell you!

The first thing to celebrate is Mia's Chiro results. 30 days ago she was all out of whack and very tender. The chiro did wonders for her and she was much better but I did another visit after 30 days because I wanted to make sure nothing fell back out of sorts. Which they did. She said while Mia regressed a little, she so much better than before. Lots of back, neck, and poll adjustments were made and we will do one more 30 day recheck. Then hopefully Mia will be ready to go back to as-needed treatments and the chiro thinks most issues will be gone. Success!

Tell me that isn't a beautiful image!

The second thing to celebrate is Mia's Lyme results. When we started this ordeal last April/May, her number was quite high at 4676 (I thought it was 6600, I was mistaken). When we stopped Doxy at the end of August, her number was 1165. Anything below 1000 is considered negative, and because she had been responding to the Doxy so well, the vet wanted to see if her natural immune system would kick in. I had her retested again at the beginning of January because I just needed to know. Did things get worse? Better? Stay the same? Was the soreness the chiro was finding a result of lyme or was it just the stall rest? Her results came back at 480! She is officially negative, and the vet was impressed with how low her numbers were. #BigWin

The last thing to celebrate is our trotting. We've only been trotting for a week, and only 3x thanks to the bitter cold/ice/snow, but it has gone exceptionally well. Mia has been completely nonplussed about the entire situation. No theatrics, no spooking, just happy to move. I have been able to stay bareback to work on my own fitness and intend to start riding in my jump saddle to really focus on my own muscle recovery while she comes back with me. Mia is definitely stiff in the trot and has no endurance, but she went from stall rest to a big pasture that is completely rutted with frozen ground. There is no running around happening so her fitness is going to come back through riding and that is okay. 

Moving well!

I finally threw her on the lunge line and let her canter vs her cantering while I was trying to evaluate her trot soundness, she is still sound and moving wonderfully. She is very weak and had a hard time staying in the canter, but we can work on that. She really wanted to canter and kept picking it back up, but she couldn't hold it for very long. I will likely start letting her canter on the lunge after some of our rides to help her build muscle. I am not supposed to canter under saddle until next month, so if she can build up some muscle and endurance without me, even better.

Fingers crossed things continue to move in such a positive direction. I still have zero expectations on the year 2022. I DO have the USEA show entry in June that I use or lose, but I am not even worrying about that for now. There is also a schooling show in April and a clinic in March, but I need to get us both back into a better place first, one step at a time.

Dusting ourselves off again

 Happy 2022! 2021 was such a crap year. Lyme disease for almost 5 months. Abscesses. 4 farrier changes. Soft tissue injury with 3 months stall rest. I am really putting as many good vibes as I can to make 2022 be decent. Can 2022 be decent? Even a little bit? The expectation isn't very high. At all. Like, barely above rock bottom low, can 2022 do it? Only time will tell.

I bought new boots to lift my spirits! And breeches!

We are, however, off to a good start. Dec 15th marked the 3 month mark of Mia being on stall rest and she had an evaluation. That was the first time she was allowed to really move on a lunge line in 3 months and she went nutso. Lots of bucking, galloping, and head tossing, but also had soundness. That's right, she was sound! We then had a chiro appointment which showed Mia was all out of whack, which I knew. She was getting weird with grooming and what not so I wanted her checked. After the adjustment she really did move even better, I am having her done again next week for a recheck and adjustment. I am hopeful she "held" the adjustments and we don't need monthly adjustments for a while. After that, Mia was also moved out to an actual pasture, which resolved basically all of the behavior issues she was exhibiting. Being bossy and pushy during feeding time? Eating hay out of the net as it is being hung? Throwing a tantrum when a horse is removed from the paddock beside her? All gone now that she has the ability to M-O-V-E again. 

She ate her feelings. Apparently she had a LOT of feelings.

Thus started the walking sessions. We were told 4 weeks of walking. If she stays sound, we can do 4 weeks of trotting. If sound, we can go back to full training. If she comes up lame, she goes back in the stall/jail for 3 months. The first ride was a ride with a saddle and bridle, as I had no idea how she would behave, and the old Mia showed up. Perfectly behaved, completely happy to toodle around. From then on, I've been riding bareback. Sometimes with a halter, sometimes a bridle. We spent a week just walking before introducing contact. Then we spent a week doing that before starting lateral work. Currently we are riding 25-50 minutes, 3-4 times a week. Mia is doing a very nice shoulder in using only the outside rein, moving off of my legs beautifully, including square corners, tranvers, renvers, half pass, and halts with only my seat. 

Our first ride outside in over 3 months!
Bareback, on the buckle like the crazy mare she is.

Let's throw positive vibes out to the universe and let 2022 be a better year. My goals of going Training level this year are non-existent, but maybe we can get back to BN or Novice this year. Maybe. It sounds easy enough, but accomplishing it for the past 2 years didn't happen either. All of my goals and ambition were in a train wreck during 2021 and they certainly have not recovered. 

So what now?

 Mia has now been on basically stall rest since Sept 13. I am not supposed to do much of anything with her until Dec 13th. I am constantly asked "How is Mia doing", to which I reply "I dunno. She's alive." I go out 4x a week and brush her, give her treats, clean her feet, and apply Keratex. Also make sure she has an Uncle Jimmy's Hanging Ball and hay. That's it. I try really, really hard not to even watch her walk because if even think I see lameness, I am going to fall into depression again. No one wants that. 

That said, it has been 6 weeks of stall rest and with 2 weeks until the farrier is out again, I just couldn't help myself. Is Mia sound? Still lame? Ugh, how would I KNOW! So I threw her in the indoor for about 4 minutes to see how she moved. 

By all things that are great, she looks SOUND. It was such a morale boost to see she was looking good after 6 weeks of standing around. I had lightly trotted her after her farrier appointment on the 27th and she was lame, so the fact she was sound made me feel SO much better. I gathered her back up and threw her back into her tiny paddock. Every time I get antsy about her not having room in that paddock, I remind myself she is supposed to be on stall rest. The fact she has a paddock is more than the vet wanted to begin with.

So what I am doing? Letting her hand graze a few times a week by headlamp because it is dark by 7p when I get to the barn. I am also riding a 20yr old OTTB who hasn't done a lot in recent years. It is a lot of walking and lateral work to get her loose again. It is also a lot of kicking and whip smacking because she will dead on stop and refuse to go like a 4H pony, but it is better than not riding at all. The owner says she does this when she is in heat, so fingers crossed it gets better through winter. 

I am cautiously optimistic about Mia's recovery, here's to hoping that 6 more weeks of stall rest will take care of the rest of what is wrong and we can come out of the other side of this and get back to work. I know the rehab will be slow, a month of walking at least, but if this WAS a DDFT/SDFT injury I am not taking chances. Super slow and steady is how we are going to come back from this. We will compete again damn it! 

Photo dump!

Her never-ending quest to injure herself - this kept her down for a week

Her 5 acres of grassy goodness, at the bottom of a big a$$ hill.
Great for hooman and horse fitness, even when we hates the hill

Fun riding times! One of our fitness rides

Prepping for our show - with braids!
She really isn't great for braiding. Was almost for sale.

So shiny and clean, she cleans up so nicely

Time to shine! Well, in the rain anyway

We looked good even when getting wet

Walking in the trees

Oh hai human!

They are not supposed to look like this

That's not supposed to be there

Hopefully you enjoyed some media. I will try to find something more to talk about!

Then it all fell apart. Again. Pt 2

 The vet visit was frustrating. My normal vet didn't come, the other vet in the practice did. He said Mia was def lame but while she has been lame on her left front since we came home, that day she was more lame on her right front when going to the right on a lunge. To the left, her right front was sound but her left was lame. We blocked her right front and here is the rub. His notes say she blocked to 75% better. That is not the number I swear he told me. He said she was 30% better if her other foot was blocked, it would likely also be 30% better. He was convinced it was a soft tissue in her hoof, likely a Deep Digital or Superficial Digital tendon injury, but the only way to confirm would be a MRI. 

He did take a bunch of x-rays and we also found a small fracture to the inside of her left front coffin bone. He said she should be in shoes, on Equioxx, and stall rest for 3 to18 months and that was that. The surgeon he sent the x-rays to said they didn't think it was a fracture, but a calcification that just floated off and a MRI would be needed for further diagnostics.

I sent the x-rays to a podiatrist who said the fracture is actually fairly common in horses that have a clubby foot, the opposite foot loads harder and it happens. He would like to have further lameness evals before sending her for MRIs, but that would also be due to the percentage differences mentioned above. 75% better is different than 30% better after a block.

I had the new farrier out on Sept 27th and we talked about what happened, how she is doing, and what the different docs have said. The farrier did not want to put shoes on her without knowing what we are stabilizing, as supporting the different tendons would have different shoeing requirements. He studied her x-rays and gave her a very nice trim while also finding that she has very soft soles. It is super easy to depress her soles with a tool, and even a hard press via a finger. Her sole depth is good based on x-rays, but her soles are really soft.

The current plan is to stall rest her for 3 months and find a way to strengthen those soles. I am using Keratex 3 to 4 times a week for now, as I have a bottle and a half sitting around. If that doesn't do the trick, I will switch over to venice turpentine and then durasole. The thought is that perhaps she is sore because of her hooves and once we can fix that issue, I will have another lameness evaluation done. The poor mare is bored out of her mind and is not very happy that she was taken off of her 5 acres of grass, but is handling it all well. I still go out and brush her and feed her treats, so she isn't being totally ignored, but I am picking up some boredom treats this weekend too.

Fingers crossed something goes better soon. I did a very short lameness check on her last night and while she is still lame at the trot to the right, it was a very mild lameness. I didn't even try to the left. Back she goes to stall rest for a few more weeks and hopefully some rest will fix whatever she has going on. Until then, I am riding a 20yr old OTTB mare at the barn. She is quite out of shape, but is nice enough to ride and I am super thankful for the opportunity. 

As one can imagine, it is hard to come up with things to say when there are no answers and nothing is happening. One day we will be ready to kick ass again, one day.