I've managed to hit a few bumps along the recovery road here: some expected and one completely unexpected.
I've got a Monster of a horse again.
No seriously. A monster.
It first started when I was working on the pasture one evening. D's trot work had been good on the lunge and I figured it was time to see if he could do a little of it with me on his back. We'd trotted up a few hills, but nothing serious to that end. As soon as we started any formal trotting (meaning longer than a few hundred feet) it became apparent that maintaining a steady, reasonable speed was more difficult than I thought it should be. The first day, we managed to throw a front boot off! The second and third days I tried it, I realized my arms and torso were going to be sore and I was out of breath and shakey. It's not like I've had a lot of riding practice in the past few years...
Against my better judgement, I moved us up to canter work shortly after the trotting began. The problem got significantly worse (which I should have seen coming)! Worse in the classic Diego fashion: gradually building sneak-speed until suddenly you realize you've advanced from a nice rolling canter to Warp Speed. Incidentally this is what used to terrify me about him as a child. I was a brave rider, but mostly because I knew tactics to "control' most runaways, I'd never dealt with a stealth runaway before. My tactics didn't work and if you got harsh right from the get-go in his canter you started a fight and ruined the ride, so I tried desperately for many years to learn to 'feel' those moments went he was pumping just a little more speed into it than necessary. I think all that concentration and anticipation of speed just made things worse. Cut to many years later and NOW, right in the middle of rehab my horse is running away with me and I'm having flashbacks again! Geez!
I had a serious bout of frustration/depression at the end of June. The cantering had now screwed up our entire ride, transitions - everything. I had a tense ball of horse ready to take off, even on the days we weren't doing any canter. Not to mention I was getting body sore from all the bracing. Hardly the stuff of dreams and fantasies, so I crashed. And then I reached out for help.... and incidentally right after doing so had a psych epiphany too:
My expectations (Surprise!!! THAT word again) were way out of whack for what rehab IS.
Time to get real and get to work.
After reaching out to a few of my AND friends we discussed various possibilities and solutions. At first I was obsessed with the cause, as I could only see a few possibilities:
- Pain (I of course immediately fear hoof pain, but joint and back pain are a possibility)
- True excitement/being too fit
- Nervousness
I have goal specifics that keep me from using certain methods, so I wanted people that understood that A) we're staying bitless and B) I want to avoid fights & improper biomechanics/joint stress at all costs. With that in mind I got some really insightful tips from my friends. I've been trying then here and there, but admittedly I've also just been walking him a lot. I'm definitely not ready for full trot work yet - my body just isn't in shape and when I get weak and shaky - I get scared and freeze up nowdays. I do feel more confident now though. We've had a few nice short canter stints now that I'm riding with a saddle more, but my old inability to sit the canter has come back so that's another thing I'll have to work out later! For now it's 2-point as much as possible to keep from banging on his back.
Hopefully one of these days I'll have a helper to take actual pictures of me riding too... I am dying to see how D looks from ground perspective during all this!
One interesting sidenote is the condition/treatment of Diego's legs:
I had been concerned about what I thought was actual tendon swelling on the insides of his front legs, between the 2 tendons. It at times gets "puffy" with moveable fluid in there. I had our barn manager (who knows a lot more about tendon ailments than myself) take a look and feel one day. After talking about it she said she felt like really there was no tendon problem if they aren't warm and he's not lame (nope). She felt that the arthritis in his fetlocks is causing the fluid back up and the 'swelling' I'm feeling is basically a form of stocking up. This would make sense considering I've felt it more the day after we've had hard workouts, and he's stall bound overnight.
I also noticed D is hitting the insides of his fetlock joints with his hooves. :( Considering the joints are already inflamed, I doubt the concussion is helping. I explored the idea of fetlock boots for protection but considering how much they stick out I was honestly afraid they'd get hit and twisted alot. I found some cheap "track" bandages at the feed store (I didn't want the heat of polos) and decided to give them a try. WOW - does wrapping every help! I do a simple exercise wrap that just barely covers the fetlock on the insides. Not only does it seem to help with the interfering, but his legs are TIGHT after work! The fluid build up all but disappears, it's wonderful!
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