We trucked (slogged? sweated?) our way along through August, getting in every other day workouts, either his weekly splish splash or a tack ride.
And on the last day of the month, he had his recheck ultrasound! The lesion is healed, mildly hyperechoic in the area with the scar tissue that has been laid down, so hopefully that will continue to realign as he works more and more.
Moving forward we're increasing workload with 2 days on and 1 day off rather than the every other day schedule we've been following up until this point. His vet did emphasize stifle strengthening work, which means I'll be pulling the raised cavaletti back out. And in another 4-6 weeks we can start hopping crossrails. I'm hoping to make it back to JV and/or PW in September to get some eyes on us.
As though mother nature could feel the resolution of this injury, we've had a couple hints of fall coolness recently, just a morning or evening here or there, but there is an end in sight!
Charlie's inspection and weaning day is at the end of September, big changes coming in his world! And DH and I *may* be making the move to our property sooner rather than later, so potentially big changes on the horizon there.
The highlights of this month included good news at Butterball's recheck ultrasound and cross country with Henry at Majestic and Rocking Horse.
Butterball got the okay to go for 30-40 minute rides every other day with 15-18 minutes of trot per ride and a few strides of canter in straight lines. While he thinks this is a TON of work, and to be fair it is 1000 degrees, it has given me an opportunity to be very mindful and deliberate about every stride of walk and trot. We've worked on our rein backs and leg yields as well. He has been a VERY good boy.
He's still splish splashing once a week too and loves going to the clinic for his session and to say hi to all his favorite friends. This horse is such a ham. He does seem to wish they'd just fill the treadmill and let him hang out in the water, but he accepts walking too.
Charlie is doing a whole lot of growing. He had his first trim the fourth week in July and was reportedly (mostly) a very good boy.
Peekaboo between Maddie's legs
He's shedding baby fur and his socks/stockings are becoming so much more crisp
What diz?
He's a bit rude to his mother sometimes; she puts up with it. The other mare in the field does not tolerate pushiness, so it is probably a good mix.
It's been a week or so since we did a proper session of leading and feet and such. But I keep arriving when they've just gotten their hay which is a pretty unfair/unproductive time to try to work on things. Somehow I think he'll survive though.
August will be more of the same. To try to slim pony pants down I've added in a 30 minute hand walk on most of the off days from riding. It's honestly fun to mosey around the neighborhood with him, he's happy to be out exploring and taking in the sights. I've picked up some extra shifts to compensate for the baby horse decision. Better to be working more while it is horrendously sticky and hot outside.
Butterball gets his final recheck ultrasound (aka the insurance coverage runs out) at the end of August. Hopefully we'll be given the okay to do more cantering at that point. The tendon looks better and better. I can still feel the spot, but if I weren't hyperaware of it, it would be hard to notice these days.
While this clearly wasn't our ideal month with a small swelling in BB's left front SDFT being diagnosed on ultrasound as a 3x4 mm lesion, things could be far worse. However, it still doesn't make for an exciting month wrap up. I am SO grateful pony pants has continued to be sound throughout and that he wasn't prescribed any stall rest. He had his second shockwave appointment yesterday and the vet felt like the swelling had improved. I was unsure on this point given the daily pouring over it I do both visually and palpably. We'll recheck the ultrasound on the 15th.
I used the rest of his sedation for shockwaving to pull his mane. All dressed up and nowhere to go now.
Butterball
Training rides
1- Happily popped around a 1m course
Lessons
1
Hacks
2
Flat rides
1
Cavaletti or jumps @ home
0
Conditioning
2
– aquatred sessions
XC school
0
Shows
0
It's not a bad time of year to be taking it easy though, I travelled to the DC area and then Shenandoah valley with two childhood friends for five days at the end of May/start of June. It was an absolutely wonderful trip in every way.
Our VRBO porch, absolutely amazing
Meanwhile, I didn't take updated hoof or conformation pics, those will come in June.
Tully and co continue to be delightful
As far as looking ahead, I'm grateful to be able to continue to hop on friend's horses with some regularity. And if Butterball's recheck ultrasound on the 15th shows that he's healed, he'll hop back in to aquatredding and we'll gradually reintroduce under saddle work. In the mean time he's standing on the balance pads and doing some belly lifts daily.
The obvious fail this month is lack of conditioning rides. I've been discussing the three points I decided on after attempts to jump meter courses led to a loss of confidence for me and pony pants. And I've definitely failed on the fitness one. I can feel it too. He's blowing pretty hard after a single course, pretty much validating that we don't have the fitness base that I wanted. Rising fuel prices and hard ground have made conditioning away from home and at home challenging. I came up with a solution for May and the next few months, but that will be a surprise for a different post.
But we still don't feel completely in sync and ready for increasing height even if I had kept up with his fitness. The gap between 90 and a meter is where he actually has to make an effort and where my eyes bug out of my head a bit. Bad combo when there's still bad riding going on.
If you watch the video at 1:08 and 2:08, you will see a direct contrast at the same fence with the same distance. The first one I flung up his shoulders and didn't support to the deep spot. The second one I stayed back and kept my leg on and supported him. The first one would've led to a stop in December, January, or February. And now he's going. And I desperately don't want to ruin that.
Said all that to say, while I am fine increasing height in very specific situations (PW on him in grids), I don't think our three month check in due in May is going to end with upping the heights for pony and me outside of a grid or placing poles to a single fence. And it feels good to be a very active participant in this decision. I was chatting with my friend who was talking about the virtues of having frank conversations like PW and I did back in February. PW knows I'm not going to dip just because we haven't made it to a meter by the end of the spring season. He knows that the horse's confidence is my primary goal. He knows that I am sticking with THIS horse and whatever we can do as a team, defining and prioritizing the team, not the end goal. And I haven't gotten any pressure about what I should be doing. And between Ms. GY and my two other friends who ride with him, we have a truly fun and supportive team.
Anyways. Good things from April: a schooling dressage show; a fun weekend at Local Champions Tour; a couple of reasonably productive jump sessions at home; and a super fun cross country school at Majestic.
Hoof Update:
I'm still very pleased with my barefoot performance pony. We are going through a bit of a Scoot Boot issue, more on that later as well, which has also slowed down the hacking out. But I have taken a few walk only loops with just hind boots on. Knock on wood, so far he seems to be handling it fine, although he will put himself in the grass shoulder rather than walk on some particularly rocky spots.
I think overall the medial/lateral balance is getting better in his feet. As mentioned, his trimmer took off more of his hinds this time to try to get them to stand up and develop his heel a bit more and they look great.
Left hind:
Right Hind:
Woohoo! There's some heel on this foot!
Right front:
Still a little wonky medial-lateral
Left front:
Isn't it lovely?
Conformation Pictures:
In process of self-trimming (I asked if he was chipping up to his nail holes. He demoed his unfortunate pawing habit when we were chatting, his trimmer pointed out he may be trimming his feet himself...) He's a perfect pony in every way except his dislike of being hosed and his pawing habit. Neither of these have anything to do with me letting him get away with things... definitely not.
You don't want to know how many shots I deleted trying to get him standing square and looking straight ahead. Thank goodness we're not in the days of film still.
Looking ahead to May...
- Renewed focus on fitness
- JV comes back into town
- We double down on a few weeks with lessons and training rides with PW
