Broken and Babies

I finally managed to get the vet out to do a soundness exam on Candy two days before school started. Eek! After doing nerve blocks, Dr. R determined that Candy is probably hurting most through his hock. It's really cool to watch all these nerve blocks and actually apply what I've learned in class to the real world, but at the same time, why do all the "educational" experiences have to happen on my pets?

But wait. It gets better.

Dr. R came out and X-rayed yesterday; he called me with the results (which I may or may not have ducked out of class for...). And brace yourselves, folks...

To quote Dr. R: I can't wait for you to see these radiographs!

Me: Oh, really?

Dr. R: It's some of the most severe degenerative joint disease I've ever seen, so the X-rays will be really educational.

Luckily though, the joint disease was localized to the lower two hock joints (the tarsometatarsal joint and distal intertarsal joint, folks), which is more promising than if it had reached the top joint. So, since Candy is the love of my life, I told the Dr. R to go ahead and inject Candy's hock. In 4 days, we'll see if it worked!! It's like waiting for Christmas... if your Christmas had a guarded to fair prognosis you might get presents. Fingers crossed!!

"Durrduhdurr, I'm Candy."

I was supposed to have a lesson on Candy last night, but since he's on stall rest until Friday evening, so instead a hopped on a fancy 5 year old mare named Bug. So not only was I conquering my fear of jumping, I was doing it on a baby. I actually love riding green horses because they really show you exactly where you're not riding effectively. On Bug, I learned that I:

• Jump ahead
• Cannot use draw reins to save my life
• Cannot keep stirrups on my feet without my big black wrap-around pads
• Am not impressed by jointed stirrups
• Don't need knee rolls to keep my leg in place!!!
• Can sit a change and jump a course on a baby with no stirrups
• Have 0 weight in my heels

It's a lot to work on really. Jumping ahead will get dangerous; Bug is pretty scopey, but we stayed around 2' for my lesson last night. If I want to get back to jumping big fences in any time soon, I really need to focus on keeping my weight in my heels and not jumping ahead. I think because I'm still out of shape and haven't found my groove I oscillate between jumping ahead and getting really really left behind. All it takes is practice. Who knew that a year off from jumping and riding would do this much damage?

Anyway, that's really it for now. School has started and so I may not be able to ride as much as I would want, I am still making it a priority to get to the barn 4 days a week. We'll see!

-K&C