Better but not really better

I was so happy when I revoked my membership to the Fat Leg Club last week. Woohoo!!  Just in time to ride in the BRAND NEW FOOTING the barn put in the indoor!  *Swoon*  I marched my happy ass out to the barn Thursday night and grabbed my mare all ready to throw down an awesome dressage ride.  The new footing was going to make her suddenly perform upper level movements and it would be amazing, I knew it.  As we walked into the barn, and thus the light because it is totally dark at 630p, I was crestfallen.  Mia's hind legs were fat again.  UGH!!!  Not super fat like they have been, but swollen none the less.  Sigh.

She wasn't lame so I tacked her up and we rode a quick walk/trot/canter (no stirrups!).  This showed she was okay enough, but NQR.  Maybe a little stiff, a little hesitant and certainly not the rocket ship I had the day prior.  Chalking it up to overdoing it the day prior, when she went craycray, I rode only about 20 minutes and hopped off.  Her legs weren't warm, her hooves are still kind of warm, but not really warm, and her legs were still semi-sensitive.  On the plus side, her scratches on her hind heels seemed about gone.

On Saturday the farrier was out and I let him go, I am going to try someone else.  He is a really nice guy, but I have to have him "fix" every single hoof.  He is better about not taking all toe and nothing else, but the hoof should be level, heels the same height and walls should be typically the same height.  Unless you are fixing something...and he is not.  I get that he hasn't been doing this long, and I thought I would be ok with "growing my own" farrier, but I might as well do this myself if I am telling him exactly how to trim every hoof, every single time.  So in about 4.5 weeks they will be done again by the new farrier, we will see how it goes.  I really like the feet of the other horse that he does, so I am very hopeful.

Monday night I went out to the barn and Mia's legs were nice and tight again, woo hoo!  I put more stuff on her scratches and felt around, the only real issue is that her hooves are still slightly warm.  Not abscess warm, and she is still sound, but just a little warmer than I would expect.  And then last night her legs were slightly swollen, again.  Not much, just some fill.  I talked with the vet and without a fever, being lame or showing any other symptoms, there isn't much else she recommends but time.  I may have her draw blood and see what it says, maybe Lyme or something?  I have no idea.

Bareback and in a halter for No Stirrup November/Broken Pony Month

So Mia is getting some non-training time until she is no longer NQR.  It's not like we have shows coming up and besides, I saw how quickly her training progressed when I actually had time to ride every week lol.  App is doing better on a full tablet of Equioxx and is doing great in the weight department.  I expect by the end of the month he will be where he needs to be, that makes me very happy.  It may have taken 3 years, but now I have a handle on how to fix his weight loss issues.  As soon as the days get shorter, start pumping him full of at least 2 weight gain products and put him on a round bale in the middle of a pasture.  Why?  Vets don't know.  But now I know how to fix it.