God is Good, God is kind

 Thank you God for answered prayers. Like, a lot of answered prayers today!

This morning I headed to Powder Springs for my work day. I had no idea how many ponies I had scheduled but it's usually a full day, especially as it's 1.5 hrs drive home usually. On my in I called Dr Barrows office to see if they could fit Funny in sometime. Unfortunately she was going out of town Tues through Thurs. They could see me this afternoon... or Friday. Except.. I work! So then I asked about next Tuesday, which... is really quite long to wait, but.... and they couldn't see me then. But they could next Thursday. Except that is when Dan goes to see Keelin. Sigh.. So I asked how late they could see me today and she said the latest she could probably do was a 3 pm haul in appt. I told her to let me see how many patients I had because maybe, just maybe, I could make it. I also figured I could see how many the Dabneys had for me on Friday because maybe I could make Friday work too. 

So while I drove to Pony Tail Acres I prayed... and I got there... and they only had 4 ponies for me. "Sorry... guess everyone is pinching pennies"! No... that's actually perfect! I shouldn't have any problem making a 3 pm vet appt then! Yay! Thank you God. So I called Dr Barrows office back and told them I could make it! 

I adjusted the 4 ponies who were all wonderful and even added in shockwave to one patient! Yay. Thank you God for that because at some point... I have to start making payments on that machine and my clients need to be using it and not just me. I finished up and headed home. My ETA for home was a little after 2 pm even with me stopping to grab food. Super!! I drove through a bad storm on my way home but it wasn't raining when I got home. Awesome. I grabbed Funny who was in her stall hanging out and she loaded right up. Super!! As we headed out... it was getting black! That storm was heading right where we were going. I prayed that we could get Funny unloaded before it hit, as that would make her a bit more feisty than usual. Not to mention it didn't seem particularly safe. And sure enough.... we got there and got her unloaded and into the barn and within 1 minute it started storming! There was lightning, rain, and the lights even flickered on and off a few times. And bless her heart, she was so good! She was in a new place... with new people... the rain was loud on the roof. But she was so good. She didn't even try to kick or anything. Because it was storming we had to jog her in the barn aisle, which isn't very long. So we tried. Dr Connelly did some palpating and then flexions. She was mildly positive in her hocks, but really not bad. I'm so grateful because I was really hoping it wasn't from her chips or secondary to her OCD's in her stifles. Then Dr. Barrow came in and checked her too. She did say that her stifles felt fine... no effusion, so phew! She watched the last bit of flexions and we were all laughing because Funny finally noticed the donkey. They had a cute little donkey with an abscess in his neck that was laying down in his stall and she was like "Wait?!? What the heck is that?!". Um girl.. you've jogged past him like 6 times already. Hee hee. But she was still so good. 

 

So after some talking Dr Barrow palpated her and her and Dr. Connelly talked and we decided that most likely, I had overdone it with the poles and/or riding her. And, she might be having a little bit of a growth spurt too... and given that she was just about to come into heat, her hormones may have softened things up a bit too, so.. it was just a perfect storm for her to get sore. Dr Barrow felt like she was pretty tight in her IT band especially and her sacroiliac joints. Dr. Connelly said we could start with medical management... ie rest, robaxin, bute... or do something a bit more aggressive like injecting her. I reminded them that I had a shockwave so... that's what we opted for. Rest, adjust her, shockwave her, bute, and robaxin and then slowly keep working her. Yay! Thank you God for that too! 

We chatted a bit because I was asking about Regumate and then had some questions about her allergy shots and then wanted to ask about Dan's cough. And then it was time to go and... glory be the rain had stopped and I was able to haul her home without any more rain! Thank you again God! 

And I got home and I still have bute and robaxin AND she even ate her robaxin pills in her grain. Whooo hooo! And then Mike made me beignets. So yay! A good day. And a good reminder to not get sucked into the miserableness because of one bad day. One BIG worry... granted. But... give it to God. He's got me. So.. I'm going to trust that my gut was right... Dr. Barrow and Dr. Connelly are right... and that Funny will be good to go in a few days and we can carefully put her back to work. 

Thank you God for taking care of me even when it's something maybe not super important in the grand scheme of things but still important to me. And thank you for helping me unbelief. I believe, but help my unbelief. Thanks for forgiving me for not trusting and wanting to worry and having a wee wallow in self pity. 

Except Not....

 Sadness... Funny is not feeling better at all :( Sigh.... 

I was so excited to take her to Ashland today. I figured I would do a little bit of arena work to feel her out and if I'm being honest, I really want to try the left lead canter again still. And then I planned to do a long hack. Mike wanted me to go early and it was supposed to rain in the afternoon. (Spoiler alert... the rain didn't come until 9 pm). Of course that meant that I couldn't ride with Kelli... but I called Sharon and she came to meet me, so yay. 

 

Funny loaded right up and was ready to go play. There were a lot of people there when we got there and she was a little fussy at the trailer but not terrible. I got her tacked up and we did a little bit of pillar walking in hand in the arena because it was busy and she was a little bouncy. I got on and she was very bouncy!!! We spent a good 15 minutes walking because she was on edge. It didn't help that a car drove up to the jump arena, and then Laura and Julia went up there. And then some others came in from XC. All things she's going to have to deal with, and she did. But it made my life a little bit scarier for a bit. I finally got brave enough to trot and in the beginning I thought she was okay. She was quick and squirrely but it felt like her usual stuff. We tried to work through it but then pretty quickly she got all humpy and kept trying to canter but wouldn't actually canter. Sigh.. the same stuff as she did on Thursday. I tried to get a nice forward trot but she kept sucking back and then crow hopping or hopping behind. I tried to canter her but she would pick it up and then buck. And it didn't feel like she was bucking to try to launch me.. more like she was bucking because she was stuck. Sigh. I kept waiting for Sharon to show up too thinking maybe she could help me figure out if it was baby antics or pain. Because she still felt sound... or symmetric. 

 

So then I gave up and walked back to the trailer. I tried to adjust her pelvis to make sure that wasn't the issue. She was a little stuck but... nothing crazy. Sharon had arrived by then so she said she would come see, so she tacked up and we headed to the arena. Funny was balking and trying to not go to the arena, which... isn't really usual for her. Although not something I've tested a lot either. Once I got on, with Baylors compnay, for the first minute Funny felt better and I was hopeful that maybe it was just silly baby horse antics, but then... she got all fussy again. She started hopping and skipping and sucking behind my leg. Then she kept trying to leave the arena and throwing her shoulder out. Sharon watched and said she thought she some some asymmetry and maybe she was short on the left hind, but mostly in transitions. And she was right... she definitely felt worse in the transitions, even the downwards. 

 

So... sigh. I wanted to cry. We ended up hacking to the lake and back. Because... Funny hasn't been to Ashland since before Ireland and I had promised and I figured as long as she was happy on the trails, a nice walk shouldn't be too big of a deal. But we kept it short and just went to the lake and back. She did feel slightly sticky in the left hind pelvis some but not blatant. And she was happy as a clam on the trails.. munching and just chilling. We got to the lake and of course she had to lay down a few times. It was a little easier to stay on than usual with the saddle. But man, my boots were soaked!

 

Then Judy and Sarah showed up and joined us and Funny got really marish. I don't know if she was worried that they had gotten close to her because she was sore... if she was protecting Baylor, or... she just is like Dan and it's HER POOL! But at that point I opted to head back and not create a scene. So we hacked back to the trailers. She didn't feel any worse after her laying down and getting back up with me on her repeatedly so phew!

 

So... yeah. Fun day but sadness because.... I'm really having fun with her. So, I guess I'll call Dr. Barrow tomorrow and see how quickly she can see her. Sigh... Might have her check Lyric too just in case, although quite frankly I'm a little scared I'm going to be horseless again for a bit. Sigh.... 

 

Feeling better

 Well... Funny is definitely in heat. But I do think she feels better! She's not shooting me evil looks and threatening when I touch her stifles today. There's no heat in her lower back. She's back to hanging with the herd and seems brighter! So hopefully that's all it was the other day. 

She is so nosy. I reconcreted the bird house pole and they all came to say hi. Hopefully tomorrow I can sneak in a trail ride with her since I've promised her a trail ride by LAST sunday! Whoops!

 

She makes me smile!

Poor Fun

 Not sure if hormonal? 

Sore in stifles and some heat mid lumbars.

Fancy Pants!!!!

 Eeeeeehhhhh I'm so excited! Funny was SOOOO good today! 

 

We had lessons with Jacel today at 7 am and 9 am at the house as I still don't have my truck. I opted to do Funny first because I figured that Jean would want to jump and I may want to jump Lyric some but didn't want to jump Funny and since the lesson was so early and I didn't finish dragging the anena until dark... I didn't have time to put jumps up. So... Fun buns was up! I got up early and fed them early and she was super. We saw a marvelous sunrise!

 

I got on early and walked around the arena. We saw the momma deer and two fawns in the pasture but Funny just looked. However after a few warm up laps she got weird about the scary corner/long side. I tried hard but... she just gets so hollow and tense and then I get tense. But luckily Jacel arrived pretty shortly and walked her into that corner and comforted her. And then she stood there for a bit while we rode which helped. 

 

I also mentioned that she had been quite zoomy but that I had tried to do the trot walk trot transitions to help. So we picked up the trot and she was quite zoomy and looky. So Jacel reminded to do multiple changes of direction and get her to follow her nose. We also tried a halt and reinback and discussed how that would also encourage her to sit and engage her hind end. Except when we tried it, Funny got fussy and silly and we decided that it maybe wasn't a battle I wanted to engage because I either had to do it quick enough and then send her forward before she got fussy or... fight the fight and get her to stand. So we abandoned that idea as it seemed like maybe not the best decision. Although I will consider trying it again later when I can play with it a bit. So we went back to the changes of directions and anytime she started looking for things to spook at, turn her nose the other way. It's a gentle reminder that "I've got you girl... pay attention to me... don't mind the scary stuff as I won't let it hurt you". And... when I allowed it to work and didn't get into my head that I was just "spinning her around in circles".... she actually started to settle. And use herself. And Jacel pointed out that she tended to hold her tension in her left jaw. Ah.... yep! Once she pointed it out, it was obvious. So anytime she locked the left jaw... change the direction and change it again. And it unlocked her poll, which unlocked her jaw. And then she was so much softer and in better self carriage. 

 

So then Jacel set up 10 trot poles across the short side of the arena but in the middle. She had me walk through them and then trot. She said that having that many might blow her mind but... smarty pants just trotted on through like she'd been doing it her hole life. Okay then miss! :) But it was a brilliant move. We trotted through them multiple times and they encouraged her to balance herself. She started to lift her back and move in self carriage. It was fantastic! I had to do a few half halts and pay attention to my position but she got LOVELY! Like... self carriage... up in her back.. soft in her neck and poll and she was really using herself nicely. Like a proper dressage horse!!! It was awesome!!!

 

So then we went to canter. I told her about my struggles with the left lead. And of course, right as we got to that point... Jean came up with her crew and in her golf cart... and waving her cowboy hat around. And it should have been fine. Funny didn't REALLY care.... but I sort of did because I was a little stressed about the canter lead. And because I got a little stressed and Funny got a little distracted.. it went to pieces. We couldn't get the left lead. And I kept making it worse the harder I tried. Jacel kept telling me I was tipping but I was trying not to. And apparently I was grabbing and holding the left rein. We tried multiple times and tricks and it just kept not happening. Right lead... then she was really overbent. And really throwing her right shoulder out. And the more I tried to correct it, the worse it got. And I got frustrated. We took a breath or two and tried one last time and bless her heart... that girl is soooo freakin' smart. She picked up the right lead and immediately swapped to the left. Like... "FOR REAL MOM.... gah... I cannot pick up the correct lead when you are making me so crooked but I realize you want the left, so I'm just gonna swap before you can get upset". So... we quit with that. What a smart girl. Sigh...

So once I got over myself and my frustration, I remembered (with Jacel's firm reminder) how amazing she felt in the trot! Like... she really was carrying herself... with a nice soft reaching for the bit connection... self carriage.... lifted back... lifted tail... engagement!! It was awesome!!!

And... when I got back for my lesson with Lyric, Jacel had a plan for Funny. We practiced it with Lyric and I had an epiphany. I had figured out with Lyric that I was bringing my left hand down and back and blocking her instead of doing an opening rein and going back to my hip instead of down towards my ankle. And I was able to correct it on Lyric. But it never correlated in my brain that I was doing the same thing with Funny. Duh! And in an attempt to get the right bend I was overcompensating and tipping instead of sitting back and to the outside and lifting my inside shoulder and hip. So Jacel had me trot Lyric through the trot poles and as we were coming over the last one, while staying straight, pick up the canter. So as her front legs were coming over and I knew we were turning left, ask for the left lead. And it worked. It put my body in the proper position. And then once I felt that, I felt what I had been doing wrong. So.... now I'm excited to try it with Funny next ride. 

 

We hacked back to the house and gave her a bath. We were both dripping sweat despite it being early. It was sooooo humid!

What a good pony. I'm so excited about our future!

 

Progress!!

 I swear Funny is freakin' smart! The girl picks up on things so quickly! 

Today was mega humid. Not as hot but it felt as bad because of the humidity. We also got rained on, which helped a tiny bit. 

 

Funny was a bit silly today because there were monsters in the woods today apparently. :) I never saw anything but... maybe. ;) She was good though considering. Only a few scoots. We had a GREAT ride! She was so good. I was able to be softer in my connection and she kept a pretty even rein connection with even weight in both reins. And I wasn't water skiing! We did a few trot to walk to trot transitions and one or two "meaningful" half halts. But she was slower and I was able to influence her with my seat aids nicely today. (Ie... meaning I remembered to ride with my seat and weight aids instead of just my hand). We had a few canter lead issues but got it all but twice. And some nice canters! 

  

Today we mostly worked on keeping her balanced by riding inside leg to outside rein. She fishtailed a few times and sometimes I had to circle her fairly tightly, but I tried hard to avoid pulling on her face and she spent a good bit of the ride balanced and nice. And of course once she was balanced, she would soften in her neck and poll and start to lift her back a little. Yay! We did play with leg yields again a tiny bit too and she was great!

We hacked down the driveway to home but it was so humid we didn't hit the trails. I did apologize to her about not being able to go to Ashland. I know I had promised her but I wasn't expecting my truck to fritz out. Sigh. Hopefully I can take her Thursday as Tuesday she will have a lesson at home. :)