Guys. Hi. My name is Emma and I am legitimately neurotic. Would you like me to count the ways?
No?? Well ha, joke’s on you — it’s my blog + my rules!
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| pretty mare <3 |
Ahem. Anyway. This mare. I swear to god. Obviously her
first ~30 days with me was a bit rocky, but since then she’s basically been Ms Reliability (
physically - that’s saying NOTHING about the chaos engine between her ears!).
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| apparently i arrived at nap o’clock |
But this winter has
not been good — we’ve been running into this same weird on-again / off-again NQR-ness since she bruised her hoof on a nasty ice ball back in January.
And here’s where my neurotic paranoia comes in: Doozy has ALWAYS been sound (except, again, for the
first 30 days). But now that Charlie is gone…. are all my weird vibes settling onto a new target, manifesting in yet another presentation of iffy feet?????
Realistically… No lol. But still… What the heck is going on here?
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| sleepy biscuit didn’t want me giving her cookies away! |
Obviously I’m a big believer in marshaling the troops, assembling the tribe, bringing in the big guns etc. So we did a lameness eval, for which naturally Doozy
declined to show the vet what I’m feeling (even tho I rode her daily leading up to the appt to explicitly
avoid that scenario ugh).
But my vet was confident anyway: Give her time. Be Patient. Bruises can take awhile esp when the feet are in winter dormancy.
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| saddle fitter called this post-ride squishy bump a “capillary occlusion” |
MEANWHILE on a parallel track. I’d already started sensing Doozy needed a saddle reflock, and in fact had checked in with the local County rep about pricing out some sort of high frequency maintenance schedule, bc apparently every 6 months isn’t sufficient for this mare.
And I’d noticed Doozy would get this squishy lump in the same spot under her saddle after a ride. Looking at the panels, it seems like the wool has shifted a bit leaving a gap right around that point. The saddle was barely used when I bought it, tho it’s a few years old — so maybe it’s normal for new-ish saddles to have the wool shift so much? Idk.
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| she suggested using a half pad until our upcoming appointment |
The fitter said the areas of the panel closest to the spine are the first to need flocking maintenance, and told me to add a half pad to protect the area until our appointment. NBD.
But! So. My neuroses. It really bugged me that the mare would feel good one day, and less good the next. To me, that’s kinda a red flag type dealio. Again, have fully discussed with my vet (including a lamenesss exam — please don’t flame me, guys).
So I set up my wall camera yesterday to finally get some footage to send to the vet so she could see what I meant.
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| strut strut!! |
Except…. Uh…. Doozy was sound again. Better than sound, her back was soft and she was
strutting. Even tho we’ve been stuck back in the indoor this week bc of wet outdoor conditions.
She had been sound two days prior after a week off. Then lame the next day, but then sound again this day — with the newly added half pad.
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| that’s it for media lol, i chose a bad wall location and ya know… it’s still just blurry and brown LOL |
Is it really truly possible that the lameness was actually from the sore spot on her back? That would get progressively more sore after consecutive days of riding??
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| #MustLoveDogs |
Like I know she’s a sensitive red head and all that, but damn, that seems
sliiiiiiightly excessive.
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| ariat ascents from bogotack (Fair Hill Saddlery’s overstock online store). cool? or too weird? |
We’ll see, I guess lol. I kept the ride short anyway - just a little bit of trot in each direction and no canter… Per vet’s orders etc… But it’s always an exciting feeling these days when the mare trots so well. Bc damn I am
so tired of not being able do all the things right now.
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| so fond of this critter, and so ready to get this season started!!! |
Patience is a virtue, they say. C’est la vie!, they say.
They might be assholes, imho haha. But, ya know, if the issue ends up being the saddle needing flocking, that would be pretty cool lol. That’s a very fixable thing! And if our original hypothesis about it just being a bruise that’s slow to grow out on winter feet… Eh, that’s fine too.
Hope springs eternal (but please, universe, don’t take that too literally!)…
This was opie last spring and it gave me a menty b. From one maybe lameness to another, none of them clearly defined, but all of them doing just enough to keep from doing anything productive for a good 2 months ðŸ«
ReplyDeleteUgh yup. So annoying…. Like haven’t I already done enough time on the sidelines ?! Cmon doozy !!
DeleteAs the owner of another constantly changing Sensitive Sally, I can definitely see an issue with flocking causing an on again/off again "NQR-ness", especially if it's causing enough of a pressure point to result in blocking blood flow. Also, of course, it could be a mixture of both that AND a slowly healing bruise! #lucky Hope she's back to strutting her stuff regularly soon!
ReplyDeleteAlso, are those ariats as comfy as they look?
The boots are super comfortable in the footbed - almost sneakerish! And the textile panels make them light and breathable. I’ve only worn them once and did get a heel blister but that seems par for the course with any new pair of tall boots.
DeleteI've become a neurotic lunatic, so, um, let's be friends lol
ReplyDeleteLolz it’s a heckuva fun little club we got going here !!
DeleteHi, yes, I know how this feels!! Cue some spiraling and over analyzing everything after what is probably still just sore feet for BB. Let's hang our mental well being on the ability of a sensitive prey animal to trot completely evenly everyday plz.
ReplyDeleteI am crossing my fingers this is in fact all due to the saddle, that would be such a great fix!
Oof yea I know you feel it too…. Why can’t it just be easy?! Like ok find doozy so you wanna be ouchy during the nastiest months of winter… fiiiiiiine. But it’s nice out now cmon let’s go! And ditto BB, doesn’t he know Carolina is coming up????
DeleteHmm, not sure what happened to my first comment so let me try again. Like a pebble in your shoe, I bet that even a small area needing reflocking could cause a pain reaction in the horse. Doozy is lucky to have an owner who likes to check all the things and notice these types of details!
ReplyDeleteAw thanks …. Sometimes I look at doozy being such a silly sensitive snowflake and think she’s kiiiinda a hot mess lol. Like my farrier spent an hour with her this morning, she was perfect, they get along great, he snuggled her face a little bit, then un-velcroed his chaps and the mare FLIPPED OUT at the noise, and then looked so sad like he had betrayed her with such a terrifying sound. Like. Mare. Ffs. Relax lol. So yea. It would NOT shock me if she declared herself crippled from bad fit lol. We will see I guess !
DeleteMy horse just developed a similar squishy bump!! Non painful for palpation. Is the pressure in the spot of the bump or somewhere nearby? Trying to troubleshoot where it’s coming from for mine.
ReplyDeleteSo I honestly don’t know a lot about it - this bump is also not painful to palpation, and while I think it correlates to a spot in the saddle panel that feels relatively empty of wool, I could be off base there too. The fitter seemed very familiar with the issue tho when I sent her that photo, so I’m hoping to get more answers at our upcoming appt, and will write about it! In the meantime, the bump did NOT appear after a ride in the half pad, so maybe that’s an easy first test for your situation?
DeleteDef looking forward to learning more after your appt!
DeleteUGH the plight of a redheaded mare! Part of me hopes it's the bump, the other part is like, really Doozy? lol. Major kudos to you for digging into every little thing - your gut doesn't steer you wrong, and subconscious pattern recognition is a thing.
ReplyDeleteI also vote that the saddle pressure point could cause the off-ness, especially knowing Doozy! Magic was like that too---he was lame if the wind blew the wrong way. Which is actually less worrying than having a Thunder, who has been sound as a bell to all appearances with a strained tendon. I only knew he'd hurt himself because of a little swelling until we did imaging.
ReplyDeleteAs an aside, a friend had those Ariats and LOVED their comfort, but they did get a hole in that soft fabric bit on the foot within the first month or so. I bet hers were just a dodgy pair, though.
Ugh, the NQR is so frustrating! Phantom was Miss Sensitive and it often was something stupid tack related - like the time I cleaned my bridle and put one cheek piece up a hole higher than normal - meant she couldn't bend that direction. Or when I got her new PS of Sweden bridle that had a clip on the bottom of the noseband that resulted in her going around with her head tipped until I removed it.
ReplyDeleteHope it’s just the saddle flocking and she continues to improve! But I get it! I sent the boys away for 30ish days so Cairo could get some training and he is spending it on stall rest from a self inflicted injury. Horses sometimes…
ReplyDeleteMy neuroses know no bounds... I feel you!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if it helps any, but Eros will be head bobbing lame anytime I try to shim a saddle, even if that shimming creates a better fit. So it is entirely possible that the little spot is what's causing your lameness. I think these beautiful red head horses are just a little bit like the princess and the pea... No judgement towards them of course!