A mixed bag

I have just had a wonderful relaxing hack up to my friend's house for breakfast in beautiful clear windless weather with startling blue skies. I took Radar because I needed to relax, and he was wonderful, forward but not rushing. I needed that, because Ace was real problem last night.

I rode him in the barn for the first time in around a year, after dark for the first time ever, and there were fireworks going off (but they had not bothered him when he was in the field or in his stable). He was seriously disturbed. He would not even walk circles without bucking. I really had the impression that he was in pain somewhere, his ears were flicking backwards and forwards and the big problem was bending. Eventually, he warmed up and did some lovely walk and some good shoulder-in in walk, and when I finished his back was warm and spongy. But I can tolerate this no longer. I simply do not want to ride a horse who is bucking every time I get on to school him.

I have ordered some poultry infra-red heat lamps, and we are going to wire up a solarium in the back of his stable. Once that has been put in, I will warm him up under the lights for as long as it takes to get his back thoroughly heated up, and see what difference that makes, if any. They don't just heat the outside, infra-red penetrates into the body and warms from inside too.

I would have his back xrayed for kissing spines, but we know that he frees up if he is lunged for 10 minutes (which I can't do in the dark). I would not be prepared to have him operated on anyway, so I think that  there is probably no point. I also doubt if the problem is his bones. From what happened with the physio it's much more likely to be his nerves being too exposed.  I hope to goodness the heat lamps work, because I'm all out of ideas after that.

The better news is Woody. This morning he was 98% sound, straight out of the barn. It took a sharp eye to see that he has a teeeeny head nod on the right foreleg on the right rein. You can't see it in his legs at all, just his ears. That's great news, and means that we can trot a little again tomorrow.

His back right foot is astonishing. I really must get a picture. He has worn/grown his foot completely skew-wiff. It's very short on the outside and much, much longer on the inside. But now, his fetlock is staying straight instead of screwing out sideways with every step. So all his joints are being evenly loaded, in spite of the very odd shape foot. For me this is where barefoot rehabs are so much more effective than remedial shoeing. No farrier would dare put a shoe on as "unlevel" as the foot that he has built for himself. But whether long term or short term, this is the foot that he needs right now, and he's made it millimetre perfect to fit his own imperfect leg. Clever boy!

C