Is it, Isn't It

A little past-week recap while we hit pause for the weather because ain't nobody riding when the windchill is in the negative double digits. 

refusing to move from the gate while i collected
his less sensible friends to come in early

hasn't stopped anyone from continuing
to destroy his clothes for funsies

Hubby had MLK Jr day off so he was nice enough to come out to the barn in 18* to get some video for me....after the farrier stopped in to put Opie's RH shoe back on. This is only the third time since I've owned him that he's lost a shoe, and it was at least a hind shoe, but still. He refuses to make this year any easier for me.

It was a good visual check-in for me to see how he's looking vs how he's feeling because those are still two different things currently. For instance, I thought we were absolutely flying in his left lead canter. I was like, "Yaaas, we are the wind, he feels amazingggg." And then upon watching we are in fact barely moving. 

got him cooking in the right trot tho

But all good because when I next rode him on Thursday, I made him actually move. He still felt sound, and he still let me help him out and get him straight, so all's well that ends well. 

The trot to the right felt fine. I get kind of stuck in this just go around in circles with some direction changes and as long as he feels sound that's good enough. I'm still afraid of breaking him and setting back all the progress we've made, but the better I can get him going--using all the tricks he knows, not just doing laps--the better his body is going to feel.

Or I'm going to permanently break him, and honestly that would solve some things as well.

To the left, I think he feels better than he looks. He still looks....NQR to me in the stupid LF.

He didn't pick up the noticeably lame LF steps, but he's still not even. I put him on the longe Wednesday and my goodness. He was very lame LF at the walk and trot tracking left. I kept him going though, and asked him to stop shuffling along, and by the end he looked completely fine. So I'm back on the rollercoaster of:

• Is this a mechanical lameness?
• Is it actually the LF or compensating for the hind end?
• Am I helping him by making him push through it by showing him how to use himself better?
• Or am I just helping him mask the problem?

idk have some more red light

With all that swirling around in my dome piece, I got on him Thursday with Mr Tappy determined to get him moving and moving correctly from step one.

He was SUCH a good boi. He hates Mr Tappy with a fiery burning passion, but he let me annoy his LH multiple times to get it stepping under him and all he did was get a little tense and rushy. No drama, no meltdowns, went back to work when I told him to ignore it. 

renvers king

There was a huge difference in how he felt once the LH was securely under him and working like it's supposed to. Maybe it's still hind end weakness making him rein lame in the LF? Because I didn't feel LF for a single step in this ride. 

Idkkkkkkkkkk 

MB is setting up an obstacle course for mental stimulation for everyone while we get through the cold and snow, but it's going to be a hot minute before we get back to real work. Hopefully he comes out feeling better for his little vacay instead of worse. If nothing else, the two feet of snow we're currently accumulating will keep his butt muscles working.

Teenager

Today Opie officially becomes a teenager!

side eye king

This is actually a big deal for me because I've never gotten a horse past twelve years old. I've owned one horse who was thirteen when I bought him so that doesn't count. And then I've put down horses at seven years old (a chronic flipper, he was legitimately a danger to himself and others); Red at eleven years old from a burst stomach ulcer that was causing him to bleed out internally; and Bobby at twelve from complications from sarcoidosis. 

So Opie has broken the curse! He is alive even if he's also been useless for awhile. Small wins, folks.

he took this milestone very seriously

MB fake laughed about it yesterday because I went to bring him in and he was acting like he'd broken his jaw. As previously shown, he likes to grab the chest straps on his blanket to play with. He likely wrenched his own stupid mouth while doing so and gave himself a nice adjustment. Fortunately, one of the boarders does repairs so he's going to sew the straps down so sir can't stick his teeth in them anymore. Fucking nuisance. 

an absolute child

In riding news, he's felt not the best under saddle. He's really ramped up his rumpus time outside with his friends. It's great he's clearly feeling so much better and wants to do partying, but rearing while playing bitey face for twenty minutes straight shockingly acts like doing 100 squats and makes him sore behind. 

Not to sound selfish, but damn, dude. Save some of those hard fought rehab results for me!

lots of time spent with the red light pad draped
over his butt

In typical Opie fashion, what seems to be helping him the most is doing the opposite of what conventional wisdom would say. 

He's been feeling good in his left lead canter--and seeing as how he was legit non-weight bearing on the LH when I first checked in on that after his injections that's a big deal--but the right lead and RH have been feeling locked the past few times. I put him on the longe over the weekend and asked him for it, and both directions he lifted his back right up, stepped under himself, and cantered off softly and happily. Ideally I wouldn't go about strengthening the canter with a questionable SI on a circle in our small indoor, but if that's what he wants that's what we'll do. For now. Until he changes his mind. Which he will inevitably do. 

One of my barn mates watched him go this morning after not having seen him in awhile and was like, "He looks way better, buuuut..." I told her to look away and come back in five minutes when he had a chance to warm up. Except she just kept (kindly) throwing out suggestions that logically made sense, but in no way would have worked for Opie. Asking him to lengthen his stride and drop his frame? Girl, no. Watch how fast he somersaults onto his head and really goes lame. 

He was in the double, and I coiled him up up up before slowly letting him out. And at the end of the ride, hot damn there was his back and ass and elevation and a real dressage horse. 

unit.

So we'll just keep keeping on, balancing the line between what Opie wants and needs, and what I can sneak in to keep pushing him forward. At least he didn't die of a broken jaw the day before he turned thirteen?

Certified Nuisance

After all the drama this horse put me through last year--all the vet visits and mysterious lameness issues, having to change his shoeing setup three different times, I don't even know how many diet changes, etc etc--you'd think he'd enter the new year with his own personal goal of being less of a pain in my ass.

He did not.

just trying to enjoy my morning

Of course it was in the single digits, so after I piled allllll my winter shit on, I drove over to the barn--in my truck so I could use 4wd because it never stops snowing here and the roads were still complete garbage--and pulled in to see Opie fully committed to the destructive lifestyle.

his bestie biscuit is gnawing on him on the other side

At our last barn, his favorite game to play with his friends was halter tag, but since no one gets turned out in halters here his new friends have taught him the joys of playing with clothes instead. 0/10 recommend.

I went out to get him and found that not only was his nose still bloody, but he'd clearly been annoyed by it bleeding and rubbed it all down his leg and across the front of his blanket.

this is why we love grey horses

I got him scrubbed clean, and I figured while I had him inside I'd let him have some rumpus time in the ring. Of course, after all the bucking and partying he blew his nose bleed open again and I had to do another clean up job before putting him back out, but it was good to see him move from the ground without just having to watch him casually trit trot in a circle around me on the longe.

He looks super sound at the trot--as he should at this point, but I'm so nervous about setbacks--and was sound at the little bit of canter he did. Interestingly though, he didn't want to canter around the short sides. That doesn't bother me, you pretty much have to be in collected canter to move correctly in our tiny ring and I don't think he's strong enough for that yet. However, he only cantered down the long sides in counter canter. If he was tracking right and picked up the right lead, he'd come down to the trot and then pick up the left lead to finish his "lap". So that probably means something, but I don't know what.

In the end, I think the nosebleed was nothing more exciting than a burst blood vessel or something. It was so fucking cold out and running around like an idiot is one of Opie's favorite pastimes. I couldn't find a cut or scrape anywhere in his nose, although he has plenty of dings on his head and neck from bitey face with his friends and probably scratching/rubbing his head on the hay feeders. He was fine, no worse for wear at the end of the day.  

I rode him the next day in the double because it was still cold and I wanted to do a walk-only ride. We spent the first half of the ride on the buckle with one hand, doing all the steering and stopping and rein-backs, and just generally having the most fun being a Good Boi who knows what leg and seat aids are.

When I asked him to switch from leg yielding to half pass, I finally picked up the reins because the shoulders did not understand without help. Which is completely on brand for Opie. 

so cute back in his big boi bridle

He remained super quiet in the mouth and happy to do the work even as I started to really collect him and add lateral work to the collection. Everything feels like such baby steps, but they're big deal baby steps. Being able to get on and walk right off without having to support him every step so his hind end doesn't start tripping and falling out felt amazing. It was only the walk, but he felt so sound. Like, I didn't even realize how subtly not sound he'd been before we started this rehab and fixed so many things.

Fingers crossed we keep ticking along in the right direction!