Day 2

Day 2 was once again great. He maybe started a little stiffer then normal but seemed to work out of it. We did the same program as the day before except with 2 walk breaks in our trotting. He gets sweaty just doing this work but he doesn't feel like he is tired which is good. We are going to continue building up our work and as long as all goes will be cantering mid-late next week!

On another note... I got my horse for my horse training class. Met Rose!

Here is her blog: http://roselbcc.blogspot.com/

Back to Work: Day 1

Yesterday was his first day back to 'work'! He actually seemed as happy and excited as I was when we were out walking in our big field :)

For the first couple days I will slowly increase our trotting time. Yesterday we did 20 minutes of walking to 10 minutes of trotting (with 3 walk breaks in between) to 15 minutes of walking before calling it quits. As much as I want to just go out and jump and run around I know I need to wait. I am going to take it slow with him and see how he does. So far so good!

Amazingly he felt pretty darn good last night, which is very promising! He didnt change at all throughout the ride either. No it wasnt hard work but it was still work and if it were a tear somewhere you would think it might irritate him a little and make it worse. Heres to hoping the rest of the 2 week 'trial period' goes as smoothly and we just need to start injections instead :)

OSU Visit

After starting my lovely day out getting rear-ended on my way to school I headed into OSU for Mystics appointment. My barn owner was nice enough to haul him for me (she works there! She is the best!) so I could run there between my classes.

Basically he tested slightly positive to flexions on his left hind (as in they could maybe see a little but not much) and they could kind of see it on the lunge line but had no idea what it was and it wasnt bad enough to block. I could clearly see it but I also see him everyday and know how he normally moves. I opted to xray the left hind stifle and hock (if nothing was found in stifle). They came up clear, which means no OCD. A huge relief. The downside? We dont know what is causing the problem. It could be slight arthritic changes in his stifle or could be a tear in his meniscus or cruciate. None of those would show on the xrays (except for the arthritic changes but they are so slight).

Back to the drawing board we go. There are a couple options we could do. We chose to put him back into work. I will slowly bring him back into work (he has been off for 3 weeks anyways). I will give him a week or two under work and re evaluate his lameness. If it gets worse he will go back in to get blocked and figure out exactly where the issue is. If it stays the same or gets better we will start him either on a joint supplement, Adequan injections, directly inject the joint, or do a combination of supplements and Adequan.

He goes back into work tomorrow. I will just take him on a long walk under saddle with a couple short trot sets mixed in. I am going to keep track of how he feels each day in hopes that it doesnt get worse!

He was a big hit there! They also said he is the most athletic looking Gypsy they have seen :)

In other horse news.....

I started a young horse training class for school. I got assigned my horse for the year today. Usually you have partners but I get to fly solo with this one (a VERY good thing! Some of those people are scary). Im way more excited for this class now that I know that. I dont know much about my horse except:
-10 years old
-Mare
-Never started
-Canadian Warmblood
-Owners would like to use her for dressage eventually

She desperately needs a makeover. Her mane is long and tangled, tail looks scraggly, needs a good brushing and a bath. Im not really sure what we get to do with them or if we can do anything like this yet. But if I can I will even go out on non class days to do it. No horse of mine (for class or not) will be looking like anything less then a champion! I figure they want to do dressage anyways so all this goes with the territory. I should get to meet and talk with the owner sometime soon I would imagine also which will be nice. I will know more about her once I get to handle her on Friday!

Nashville!

This is not horse related as I havent even seen him in a week since I have been out of town! I took a trip to Nashville with my dad and step sister for the week. It was SO nice to get out of here and just relax. It was a ton of fun and I will definitely be going back at some point in my life :)
I did a lot of "firsts" there:
-1st taxi ride
-1st taxi ride with strangers (who also paid for me!)
-1st time in Nashville
-1st time at the Grand Ole Opry/Country Music Hall of Fame/Ryman Auditorium
-1st time meeting Kellie Pickler
-1st time taking the city bus
-1st time eating Chic Fil A

It was an amazing experience to be able to go all these places. They are crazy gorgeous!

Grand Ole Opry!

Broadway Street (right by our hotel)

The old Opry stage

Cinderella! She was out driving people around

Gorgeous buildings there

CMHF

Love seeing all these gorgeous men all over the city!

On the horse front... we go into OSU on Wednesday. Hopefully we will know more then. This whole thing has seriously unmotivated me. Especially leaving for vacation and realizing how relaxing life is without horses!

Appointment set

We have an appointment at OSU on the 26th, right after I get back from Nashville. I am so ready to just know what is going on and get a plan to get him all better. I will be devastated if he actually ends up needing surgery and 6 months or a year off but I havent been thinking about that. I figure if its going to happen there is nothing I can do about it at this point. Me sitting here going crazy over it wont make him any better!

Instead I have been planning his appointment, writing up his 'story', ordering a grazing muzzle (poor, poor pony!), and just spending time brushing and loving on him. Trying to be proactive here! Still praying for something less severe then what it has potential to be but trying to stay off the internet and researching! Just waiting for our appointment to find out what it actually is instead of what it could be.

He is doing great though. Enjoying his time off and just getting brushed! Although I think he is already gaining weight again after a week off... Oh Mystic!

One step at a time

I called OSU today to set up an appointment. I knew it would be decently difficult with me being back in school by the time I can take him in. It turns out the only vet I want him to see (recommendation by a knowledgeable, important person to me!) only sees appointments on Mondays and Wednesdays when he is on shift as he does sx Tuesdays and Thursdays. Because of school my T/Th are much more open and I didnt want to set an appointment with someone else before talking to my "in" person.

We hopefully got it figured out. I am going to make an appointment tomorrow for Wednesday the 26th. I will take him over on Tuesday so I have time to fill out paperwork etc. That way I can go to my class Wednesday morning (figure missing class first week of school isnt great if it is avoidable!) and come back for an appointment after my class is over. That way they can get a head start on him if they can and have an idea of what we need to xray and such so I can hopefully be there when they make a diagnosis.

Since our barn owner works there she is going to fill in the vet to and let him know what is going on before our appointment. It is SO nice having people there that I know. It will make it much easier to leave him with them knowing there is someone there that knows him personally. I also know someone who works in the same building that can check on him also. I know I will be a nervous mommy! Now it is just waiting till then...

Disappointed but not destroyed

I got a call from our vet this morning saying she could squeeze us in really quick today since I couldn't do tomorrow due to work. Going into the appointment I was very hopeful, thinking that we would do the injections and it would turn out to just be something little so we could go on our merry way. After all he really hasnt been that bad off. Coming out of it, however, is a different story. He tested positive to the flexsions on his left hind (which I am really proud of myself for being about to tell which leg it was! Especially for a hind leg), very positive actually. Once she put his leg down he didnt want to move at all and completely refused to trot for about 5 strides. Then when he finally did he was very off. You could tell when she was holding his leg up he kept trying to lift his whole hip up to avoid the pressure where the pain is.

We are not 100 % sure where the problem is. We do know that it is either the hock or the stifle. We could have blocked his stifle out to see if that is where it is but decided to wait. I am going to take him into OSU for a full work up and diagnosis and figured they might as well do all that there since they will be the ones helping me through the rest of this process.

Good news is that he is the normal happy and personable dude he always is! I have a feeling we will be spending lots of quality time together in the next few months. It is sounding like worst case scenario (which we never hope for of course!) he will be out for up to 6 months with potential sx. That is if he is diagnosed with this OCD.

Sad news for him is that the doctors orders him to lose more weight, especially because of the potential issues ahead of us, as it will only make it easier on his body. The hard part is going to be getting him to lose it at all, let alone with him not working!

I am very disappointed to say the least but still hold hope that the issue is much smaller then what it has potential to be. I know that between OSU and I we can get him all healed up riding again by next year. I truly will do anything it takes for this horse. Even if that mean going out in the cold winter just to hand walk him around :) Hopefully I will have better news after taking him in (will be like 2 weeks as I leave for Nashville on Sunday) and I will keep you all updated.

With all his pretty ribbons today :)

Houston, we have a plan!

I headed out to the barn decently early (for me on a late start day!) this morning since I am back to being worried about my pony. I brought him in from the pasture and took him straight to the arena to see what he looks like on the lunge line. Honestly, it could go either way! But I am seeing a slight unevenness on his left hind (the one that pops the most). He go forward, can walk/trot/canter, and definitely isn't dying but.... it still worries me! Especially since this is the 2nd time in the last 3 weeks.

So... of course I called my vet. We are going to try the injections one more time, since she said it could just be him growing, but if this same thing happens again in to OSU we will be going! Because the stifle in general is so thick, then you add on it being a Mystic Pony stifle, she wouldnt be able to do the xrays at our barn. If it came back as he had something he would have to go into OSU anyways so they might as well do the xrays and know more about him to start with.

The downfall of this whole timing is that I am leaving for Nashville on Sunday. For a week. The up side is that I will be gone for a week and he will just be able to rest.

Since he was still off today he had to suffer through me washing his tail and feather :) I feel like that was a fair trade! So at least he is a somewhat clean unusable pony instead of a homeless looking one :)

Said no horse owner ever...

"Let me just pay for that extra vet bill with all this extra cash I have laying around" -Said no horse owner ever!

EVER.EVER.EVER! This FB post about sums up my night. After a super nice, much needed, escape from reality with my brother and some cousins with no cell signal I come home all relaxed, ready to ride my adorable pony. I get on and walk around everything is fine and dandy. Pick up the trot... perfect just what I wanted to come home to, a lame horse. It seems like its the same thing as last time (more concerning) so I kept working him to see if it would get worse/better. Nope. No change. Just a very slight weirdness to his gait that someone who doesn't know him might say he was just fine. Okay... so that brings me back to the possibility of it being OCD still. The biggest reason against it being that is his age. Normally it is in young horses (it is much worse if found when they are really young from what I have read). Everything else seems like it could be it.

"Lameness sometimes may be very mild, with a stiff action and shortened stride being observed, rather than the horse having a prominent lameness."

"The most common signs of OCD will be painful movement or swelling and pain in the joints that moves from leg to leg and seems to be more problematic at times and then disappear, only to come back at a later time. This waxing and waning of the pain may or may not be more pronounced with additional exercise"

Up until just the last 2 weeks he has been fine besides the popping of his stifle which has not led to any lameness at all. It says it can be brought out more by a heavier work load, which at first I didnt think of because it hasnt varied much overall. However, he has started jumping more which would put more stress back there. I am going to go check him tomorrow and put him on the lunge line to see what he looks like. I think I will call our vet and see what she thinks I should do. We may end up getting xrays just to confirm either way. It would make me feel better at least!

Super Star!

Wow the pony was a super star today for our ride! He had yesterday off and we had a short jump school today. What a stud! No issues what so ever. He came out with a nice forward pace without me having to talk him into it, went when I asked, was attentive to half halts, and saved my butt majorly one time!

I am really starting to feel him get the concept and feel like he knows what he is doing. Our lessons are definitely paying off. I got him into a really bad approach to a vertical (had to go between poles within the grid and I picked the wrong pathway!), got him in all sideways and would have totally not blamed him for running out just because of his inexperience and it wasnt a tiny fence for him. I apologized and asked him to go and he went right over it, his confidence is definitely getting better and better!

We put together small courses with the grid and the one stride along with some single fences. We got our distances, our lead changes, and had no forward issues. I even took him through a weird angle bending line and he just popped right over like it was nothing. It was a short 30 minute ride that left me feeling SO good about our progress! He will totally be ready for Inavale next year not doubts!

Our Top Secret Misson...

After a great XC lesson and a great dressage ride last night I decided to have a fun bareback and bridleless night tonight! We are hoping to attend Gypsy Affair and the National Championship show in October. There is a musical freestyle class that we hope to rock the house with :)

For the most part he is super good! Especially for not doing it that much. He does try to ignore me sometimes but is getting much better, I think the cookies help! Heres to hoping we can make it to the show and compete, it would be tons of fun!

Fast Learner

This afternoon we headed out for our 2nd jump lesson out at Inavale. Neither of the boys have jumped much since our last lesson (Mystic had jumped once on Friday) due to different circumstances. Both also came out great! It was a great lesson for everyone and both improved on our last lesson which is always a huge plus.

Mystic and I got to work on the more technical side of cross country today. Last one was more open galloping and single fences, where today it was shorter distances with more technical rides. I am super happy with how he responds to everything. I can confidently say that any "issues" we had could have been avoided if I had rode him better. Although he is continually gaining confidence jumping he still isnt at a spot where he will take charge and bail me out of a sticky situation, which is understandable. Even then he still doesn't just quit on me or run out like he could.

One thing that is becoming more and more apparent is that he really is a horse that will only give as much as he needs to make it over the fence, especially with the little ones! Its actually pretty bad how terrible we look over the small stuff. But the minute we start jumping more bn fences he perks right but and tucks his knees to his chin. Its a good thing he likes this jumping thing!

We schooled more banks again today since it was a slight issue last time. Im thinking maybe he wasn't feeling 100 % last time though. He didn't stop or run out at it at all today. He even kept us together and I held on for dear life looking like someone who doesn't know how to ride going down the banks! We were going down and up a decent sized bank. We then put together the down bank to another fence fairly close after it. It is actually pretty tricky getting organized and getting him off his forehand so that he was ready to jump but we got it put together. Then we did it the other way where we did the jump first to the up bank. A big thing that we need to work on is getting the energy combined with getting him off his forehand, it will make the bigger fences that much easier for him.

It is so nice to be making progress and feeling as if we should be over prepared to hit Inavale next year at beginner novice. I would much rather be over prepared and give him a great first big outing then be slightly under prepared and set his confidence back. We are having SO much fun with this!

Sorry for the pic overload :)

Beach bums!

Yesterday Alanna and I packed up our boys and headed for the beach for the afternoon! We decided to go a little later than we normally do so we could both sleep in a little more. We knew it would be busier but didnt even think that it would be high tide! So we got there and of course it was high tide with tons of people. We did our normal wondering down the beach until it was more open and just walked until the tide started to go back out. It was a beautiful day! Sunny with a breeze but definitely the prettiest it has ever been when we have taken the horses. Both boys were great.

Now we are on to our XC lesson on Monday! There should be pictures as Alanna is having Kelsey ride Chevy.