show pics

One of the many reasons I love competing at Loch Moy is their show photogs are always super fast* at posting pics! Erin Gilmore Photography often has same-day uploads, which naturally means I’ve got my favorites selected & added to cart asap!

(*Tho of course nothing can compare to the GRC Photography days when they had a trailer legit onsite and you could buy a thumb drive of every single photo taken of you right then and there for $99…)

boss mare doozy blazin’ around like we didn’t just watch three horses in a row get eliminated on refusals

It’s so funny, tho, how our feelings about and relationship to riding images can shift over time… Or, as the case may be, in no time at all. These photo prints arrived the day after Doozy got hurt and… Ya know. Idk. There are kinda a lot of emotions wrapped up in all that. 

we match the jump!

On one hand, gratitude, obviously. Gratitude for the physical and literal recorded memories of what was, again, a very fulfilling experience a long time in the making with this sweet and sensitive little mare.

On the other hand, tho, naturally it felt pretty bittersweet. Like, yea, it’s taken us a long time to get to this point in our partnership, where finally it feels like we’re clicking along, doing the fun stuff, not too too terribly unreliable or rough around the edges…

ok ok so when it’s late and i’m tired and i’m browsing show pics on my phone and can’t decide between two close shots? eh, what the hell, at $5 each i get ‘em both!

But there’s still so much more to do, improve upon, learn, grow into, all the things. And that had kinda been my initial feeling right after the show, when I first browsed pictures. Like, oh yea — Doozy is jumping better, and I can see signs that this new bit is helping me commit to a more forward posture, altho there’s still more to do there. 

just clockin right on around!

And I was happy with how things were looking with riding around in Charlie’s saddle too — recall I’d been experimenting with it, with the idea of maybe replacing the panels to better fit Doozy. 

 

real talk, if i didn’t buy pics with awkward expressions, i’d have no pics at all!! LOL

Plus, none of the pictures look truly sketchy (if you ignore the weird emoji grimaces I make while huffing and puffing my way around cross country LOL!). Like, if anything, it all looks pretty ho hum and easy for Doozy, with perhaps some areas to improve upon for the rider, right?

look at us, jumpin the blue thing!

That’s obviously a perfectly normal feeling, and maybe even quite a good feeling when the next event is just another 3 or 4 weeks away. With Doozy’s uncertain prognosis, tho, there are maybe slightly less encouraging feelings like, “sheesh if it took us both this long just to look like that, where will a possibly long layup and rehab leave us?”

not the world’s most exciting photo, but proof we did better over the boat house this time around!

That’s horses, tho, amirite? Siiiiigh.

As it is, tho, we remain cautiously optimistic about both the nature of the injury itself, and Doozy’s chances of making a full recovery in hopefully fairly decent time.

not me, drifting right over a fence instead of left!

We had our follow up appointment with the vet last week, during which the vet actually recommended skipping the ultrasound. As you saw from the pictures, the leg was looking quite good as the swelling came down. Plus the mare was not reactive to palpations, AND — more importantly — jogged sound even after flexions. These are all very strong signs that the underlying injury is generally mild.

**not** stepping inside the ditch, thankyouverymuch!

Recommended next steps were to start peeling back layers of treatment — stopping NSAIDs and cold therapies (hosing / boots / etc), and weaning from wraps — and introducing more intentional hand walking. We’re monitoring the leg carefully obviously, but if we can get up to about 20min hand walking without seeing any meaningful negative changes, the hope is to get the mare back into regular turnout. 

hopefully not the last time!

I’m not exactly sure what will come after that — I’m honestly just trying not to overthink or over-plan anything at the moment, bc I basically have zero experience with soft tissue injuries. And let’s be real, with who Doozy is as a person, I can’t just plan ‘nice, low key, quiet rides.’ 

Like, if it doesn’t feel wise to let the horse run or leap around on the leg, then it’s probably not wise to ride at all. Bc… Ya know. She is who she is LOL. 

The vet is optimistic that if we can check off these boxes with carefully returning to normal, all without seeing any negative changes in the leg, then it’s possible the injury was primarily superficial vs structural. We’ll see, right? One step at a time!! Tho, I can assure you, EVERYBODY will be happier when Doozy is back out again lol!