A beautiful day to be outside

Today we made the transition from working in the indoor to doing our entire work out outside. Despite many intrusions -- trailers being hooked up and moved, horses being bathed and brought in from their paddocks, apple trees being watered and trucks/ Harleys driving up and down the road, Blu tended to business.

While I had to dig a bit deeper to get him to move forward his work was steady and sound. His canter felt improved in both directions.

He earned a warm liniment bath, a handful of carrots and a good scratch. He will have tomorrow off and then a lesson on Monday with Linda. I look forward to hearing her thoughts on how to bring him back. Tomorrow both Blu and I will rest.

Every day just gets better

I had a great ride last night. After loosening up on a long rein we did all our lateral work at the walk -- shoulder-in, half-pass and leg yielding. He definitely needed to be reminded to move off my leg but without much effort he got in the groove. Our trot work was good and I took less breaks and moved from one lead to the other effortlessly without coming back to walk. The canter remains his weakest gait at this point. He stuck against my leg in the upward transitions but he was sound so that will come with time.

After work we both needed to get out of the ring and we went off on a short hack around the property. He was a very good boy -- a little tense and looky at times but no silly stuff. He even marched over a short wooden bridge without a blink of an eyelash. I think with time he will really come to enjoy it. He really likes when I point him out of the ring. After the hack a cool shower was in order and then I watched him walk across the pavement. He had no twisting behind and he had a very forward and sound. Yay!

Good news from Dr. Liz... If I want to do a 3rd level test later this fall then she thinks we should work towards it. She cautioned me that small circles will be the most difficult for him so to not school them excessively. She said his back is improved but still a bit sore. (She looked at him on Tuesday and did a short shock wave on him) So instead of sitting the trot I post. We will have to get to sitting soon but I think a couple more weeks of conditioning is probably in order.

Sandra and I are contemplating our first show at Carberry Fields. Jenn told me of a ride-critique-ride several weeks before and I think it may be a good idea for us to give that a whirl too. We will have to talk about it.

First lesson on Monday with Linda and then another lesson on Wednesday with Jenn... We are off and running!!!

Catching up

I have not posted in awhile because Blu continued with his ups and downs. He was re-shod 3 weeks ago and since then he has been oh so much better. He has actually come sound and I have been moving him up in his reconditioning. He is now working a good 40 - 45 minutes. I reintroduced canter and he is sound after cantering in both directions. Baby steps though...

I am starting him off long and low asking him to trot out on a loose rein. Since long lining last week he has started to get the hang of not being so up in his frame. Once I get some good steady work in both directions, I pick him up and we do transitions in the gait at the walk and trot. I have also introduced some baby leg yields and shoulder-in. I also finish giving him the rein at the trot and letting him stretch out. He really likes it and goes for it.

Long lining was a revelation for him. He was pretty funny to start -- very excited and prancing around like an FEI show pony. He then figured out what Claudia was looking for and practically dropped his nose to the ground. It was remarkable.

Next week we will take our first lesson in 4 months. I am too excited to even think about it right now. I am feeling like everything is starting to fall into place! In the meantime, we will continue with our rehab and start working back outside again. We went out at the end of the ride tonight to walk around the ring. He really loved going out. He marched right outside and down the dirt road to the arena. He wanted to get out and have a look around. I think if all goes well tomorrow we might do a short hack.

A final solution... can it be???

Blu's feet have improved immeasurably and his back has been up and down. Dr. Liz suggested I have a saddle fitter out to look at my saddle. She was thinking it was definitely wrong for Blu. So I called Colleen at Advanced Saddle Fit and I was treated to her vast store of knowledge on saddles, saddle fittings and horse back biomechanics. As she explained, Blu has a very high wither that is narrow at the top but gets very wide at the base. He also has a wide back. She said he needed something that would allow room for the base of the wither and distribute the weight and concussion on his back as much as possible.

She looked at my saddle and quickly showed me the issues with it -- pinching at the base of the wither, cantle too low and rocking on his back. Out it goes! She suggested the Detente Argus for its wither clearance and wide weight distributing panels. So she put it on his back and it looked good -- far better than my saddle. She had me sit in it and instantly I felt different and so did Blu. His walk improved, he dropped his head and his back and rib cage began to swing. She took it off of him and flocked it to fit him. She put it back on him and I got on and wow... I felt a perfect position in the saddle and Blu's walk improved even more. She suggest a Prolite pad with a small cantle wedge so we tried that and voila! I had a sound horse at all 3 gaits!

While I am now officially broke, my horse is moving beautifully and we are officially on the road to recovery! I know Blu was smiling. I am so grateful I found Colleen.

Many thanks have to go to my friends who have supported me through this harrowing ordeal. I know we still have a ways to go to rehab but I am definitely seeing the light at the end of the tunnel... Grateful does not describe how I feel!!!

Getting better every day

I have had two good rides this week. While there is just a little something going to the left, I have reintroduced the canter and it feels quite good. Dr. Liz was by this evening and thought he was making remarkable progress. She thought his canter to the right was perfect and he needs a little help going to the left. So with her direction, we will focus on keeping him conditioned by going to the right and adding the left as it feels good. She also said we can trail ride. It would be very good for him to get out of the ring. Yay...

I am going to have to look at his saddle since it is too tight as it sits behind the shoulders. He has gained weight and I do not think he had much room to spare to begin with. Oh well, better to fix the saddle issue then to have ongoing soundness issues.

Dr. Liz said we could think about doing some shows the end of August/ beginning of September at training or first level. I may just consider it to get us both back in show shape.

All said, this was a great day!!!

A couple of days off

I was at the barn today after giving Blu a couple of days off -- I was traveling and he had shock wave done on his back and left front foot on Wednesday which required a day of rest. Dr. Liz is pleased with his progress and is not sure if his ongoing discomfort is coming from his back or his left front. This is a long slow process for sure! The heart bar shoes have helped tremendously and overall he is much more comfortable. The farrier will be back on the 11th and we will see what happens at that time.

So I rode him for 30 minutes today -- 5 minutes of trot in each direction and 20 minutes of walking. Going to the right at trot was super but he is still struggling a bit going to the left. So instead of doing the full ring I would walk him on the short sides. I will see if I can go for more trot tomorrow.

The boy got a shower and some hand grazing then back out to his pals. He is quite social with all the other horses. He and his other gray pal Windjammer were having quite the conversation! If only I could understand what they are saying...

Back to work

It has been a long haul. Blu has been the best of boys while we have tried to figure out what was going on. The root cause seems to be Blu was shod poorly for a period of time and developed very sore feet and back. I think we are on the right track with therapeutic heart bar shoes, rest, shock wave for his back and Polyglycan. He is now ready to start back in light work after a week of light lunging. I sometimes think I still see/ feel something in his right front when going to the left but then it disappears. I see it from the ground on occasion but when he is under saddle I can not see it when we pass by in the mirror.

Blu is loving life on the farm. He has gained much weight and now needs to watch his intake. We have cut his grain way back and watch the amount of hay he has in his stall. He is a very happy boy despite his restricted diet.

I have had to travel quite a bit this month but my friends have been great about looking after him. My daughters even visited the Blu - ster and put a smile on his face with their attention! They also put a smile on my face by taking the time to visit!

I feel there is light at the end of the tunnel. Dr. Liz comes back to visit this week so I can't wait to hear what she has to say. Go Blu Go!!!