This and That

I had good rides on all three horses today - tomorrow everyone will get a day off as it's my music day.

I rode Dawn in the early morning, and had the arena to myself.  It was a lovely day, although cold, so we made an excursion to the outdoor, although only briefly, as she found the footing a little hard - it hadn't been dragged in a few days.  So we went back inside and had a very nice walk/trot/canter ride - good stretching down and decent relaxation.  We both enjoyed it, I think.

In the afternoon, I rode Red first.  This was our first two days in row trot ride.  After a good 10-minute warm up at walk, we did a trot set of only straight lines.  His trot was the best it's been in a long time - fluid and forward.  I had done a lot of muscle massage with him before we rode, and interestingly enough, he really wanted his right hind - not the leg that's been the main problem - massaged.  After the trot set, he really wanted to go outside, so I led him down the steep hill and back up the hill to the outdoor arena.  He managed the hill really well - no foot dragging - and we mounted back up and I rode him in the outdoor for a few minutes at the walk.  He'd only been ridden out there once before, but did very well despite the cold, windy conditions and another horse cantering around.  We led back to the indoor after that and did another trot set.  After that he was getting tired - the left hind was starting to shorten up, so we stopped there.  I've upped his aspirine (I use Aspirease) to twice a day to see if that improves his soundness - if it's a hock arthritic issue that may help.

We got the results of Red's second EPM blood test back - he's still 2/2/2, which likely means that his episode of neurological symptoms was an inflammatory event rather than a new infection.  Whatever it was, it seems to have responded to the levamisole in the Oroquin-10 medication, which is an anti-inflamatory.  We don't have the results of his C reactive protein level test yet - this is a non-specific test for inflammation.  It'll be interesting to see what it shows.  I'm encouraged that he started out today even better than yesterday even though we trotted two days in a row.  Keeping fingers crossed that our rehab is progressing.

Pie and I rode mainly outside today in the pasture with two other boarders, and did lots of trot and canter work.  Pie was very forward and moving the best he's done since I've had him - really big, engaged trot and canter, and seemed delighted to do it.  His personality transplant continues to impress - he's interactive, and sweet and just plain a delight to be around, and he's vacuuming up his doxyclycline  pills without any problem (the cocosoya oil is a big help with that) - we're up to 90 pills and keeping a close eye on his manure, which remains soft but not loose.

It was a very good day with horses!