Psychic

Or maybe more appropriately titled "Psycho" because that's what everyone thinks of horse people anyway, and then you tell them you called some random woman halfway across the country to talk to your horse, AND SHE DID. 

#noregrets

Absolutely nothing has happened since our lesson last week - not even our rescheduled saddle fitting appointment - because we're stuck in a cycle of snow and ice and 50mph wind. Which isn't really that different from every single fucking day since Christmas which is that last time we've seen open ground, but the past few days have been especially horrendous. 

i guess that's a lie. opie did get his teeth done, but
even that was routine and boring.

So this seems like the perfect time to ride on the back of Stacie's post contemplating getting an animal communicator for Al and write about Opie's session with Kathy George. Our appointment was probably a year and a half ago at this point, but don't worry. I kept the pages of notes I took! I went with Kathy on the recommendation of one of my friends who had done all four of her horses with Kathy and gave a glowing review.

I will preface all this by saying that I went in not caring either way if she gave me any pertinent or super secret information. I purely wanted the entertainment value. It was $45 for a 15 minute session, and I justified it by telling myself I've spent way more than that on far more stupid shit. Also, leading up to it, everyone in the barn was joking on how many people Opie was going to pick out and say he hates because a sweet, loveable, cuddling precious pookie Opie is not. #ragemonster

I called Kathy at our scheduled appointment time, we talked about the weather for a second (only because my area code is for Illinois and I actually live in NY), and then she asked for his color, age, and name.

Let's jump right in with some bulllletttt pointssss:

• Her first comment was, "Wow! He just ran through the door like Liberace!" Which was hysterical because while Opie is a grumpy old man trapped in a fit young horse body, he feels every emotion to a 10. She said she would describe his whole personality as "flashy." Oh yeah, he likes to give us all the ole razzle dazzle alright lol.
• "I'm first. For everything." -- Opie. "You're not going to ignore him, ever."
• He was super rude at the gate at the last barn. He had to come in first, and he would push other horses off the gate if they were coming in instead of him. And forget trying to give anyone else in the field candy if you weren't also going to give him some, too. He hasn't done any of this once at the new barn. 
• Later in the session she added that "he wants attention all the time. He's like a dog."
• He identifies me as "his person" (which gave me heart eyes because again, he's just got the grumpiest outward personality), and he wants to do a good job for me.

I  specifically asked her if he liked his job as a dressage horse, and if there was anything I could help him with in his work.

• He gets tense in his jaw and neck under saddle which makes the rest of him tense up. 
• "Mom gets annoyed when I do this." Heh, called out for my lack of patience by my own horse over the phone to a random person states away. Kathy told him that she can tell he gets defensive in response and we need to work together.
• He doesn't like to pick his back up....
• True....
• .....and then she followed that up immediately with, "Well Opie, you don't need to be dramatic about everything." And then she told me, "He's very funny, but he is a lot."
• He likes doing dressage, he likes that it helps get his energy out.
• "He's like a star quarterback. I feel like the weaving comes from needing to get his energy out nonstop." He doesn't weave at the new barn either, and literally all of the horses that moved when the barn closed that had issues have done a total 180 so I'm surprised she didn't pick up on the bad juju floating around there lol.

And, of course, I asked about any physical issues he was having which is where we spent most of our time.

• The last third of his foot/the lower pastern in the back felt like it had pressure. 
• We've never xrayed, but it does look like on the RH he might be developing a little ringbone.
• He doesn't like high nails in his back shoes.
• When he swallows, his throat/neck reflexively give him the feeling like he's having a panic attack. 
• He is starting to develop some (super, super small) melanomas along his throatlatch area, but I've had 3 vets from 2 practices check him over in this area and none of them thought they were effecting his breathing. He doesn't ever seem to struggle with this under saddle or while he's romping around so idk.
• He's sore in his sternum, and poll and jaw areas.
• He hates getting his chest buckles done on his blanket which ties in to the sternum, but I don't have the funds to try all the blankets in the world to see if there's a configuration that suits him better.  Sorry, dude.
• We make sure to spend more targeted time with PEMF on his dome piece now.
• Her big takeaway was that he felt "sensitive all over" and she asked if I'd had him tested for Lyme lately. 
• Which was on the list, and a month later we did the test and ended up treating him for it!

The best part of the whole appointment was at the very end when she just started laughing hysterically and she was like, "I told him he just needed to relax, and he SHOUTED back at me, 'I AM RELAXED.'" Opie in a fucking nutshell, I was dying. 

Definitely recommend Kathy, and definitely recommend getting a session done just so you can share it with everyone else. I'd love to have her do Opie again at the new barn because I know there would be so much new stuff.