OK, I Rode, Sort Of

And A Stiff Neck Again

Woke up on the verge of another migraine--too much tension and extra hours this past week.

Instead of heading over to Pat's to watch the lessons with Jamie, I headed for the chiropractor and THEN over to watch the lessons.

From the lesson I watched, Jamie is a good trainer. She offered some excellent exercises to correct issues with the horse. I am looking forward to riding with her to see how she gets along with Tucker the Opinionated.

I stopped for Chinese food on the way home, ate lunch an surrendered to being super tired and still kind of sore in my neck. If my nerves get irritated by the misplaced vertebrae, it can take all day for them to settle down. I still feel some pain, so I guess it will take a night in bed to clear it all up.

That said, I did go out to work the horses and finally decided to just deal with Tucker. I lunged him a bit first, thinking that might be it, but I simply could not resist a ride. I saddled him up and went out into the arena.

He felt great!! His trot was nice and bouncey forward and then when I asked for left lead canter, he moved right off. To avoid trouble as much as possible, I rode the left lead for a while, then crossed the diagonal and trotted through a change to the right lead. Again, no problem. I did my circuits on the right lead, brought him back to the trot.

I rode a half pass to the right, then a half pass to the left and both of them felt even and quite good. I had him in a moderate frame, not demanding he be too collected but the exercises were easy, so it was fine. Then, on the long side, I asked for a right lead canter depart as a final test. He offered an uphill, foward and immediate depart. I cantered just a little bit more and called it a day, praising him mightily.

This was fantastic!! Tucker has been off the bute for a full week, so the only reason he would feel so good is the Adequan and, possibly the rest. Considering how much success I had with the Adequan each time Toby showed some hock soreness, I go for that as the primary remedy.

Tucker had his 6th Adequan injection today and gets one more. I am also giving him a joint supplement in his feed, so that is another plus. I suspect we will have hock issues again down the road, but for now, they seem to be resolved. I'll just be quicker next time in picking up on when he first starts to become a little uncomfortable.