Happy Horse

Jimmy and I had another great hack last night. He trotted very beautifully - minimal "hopping". Since his recovery he really loves to trot with his head in a hunter frame naturally, and if I pick up the slack in my reins he's gone from doing "hoppy" trot to just moving upward into the bridle so he's in more of a "dressage" frame. It's very relaxed and very fluid. He's such a pleasure to ride, I could just trot around on him all day long. I love that now I actually can!

How Jimmy is hacking without contact.

How Jimmy is hacking with contact.

Hopefully soon I can get ACTUAL pictures of us hacking!! He cantered some more last night also, and I decided it's time to build upwards instead of just forward, so I slowly would collect him and sit in the saddle, asking him to come up under me. He really doesn't like this much, but that's just too bad. Being a jumper, he needs to be as elastic as possible. ESPECIALLY with his small stature - he needs to be able to move from a regular stride (for him, about 11' instead of the standard 12') to a LONG stride, to a short stride if need be.

After our ride I felt his fetlocks, and I was concerned to realize that they were warm and puffy. Before the ride I always feel them and they were cold and solid, so I was really concerned. I gave him a gram of bute and called my mom on my way home. STUPID, JESS! I didn't think about WHY he would be swelling, so my mom explained it to me. Giving him a gram was the wrong thing to do and here's why: His cartilage was severely damaged from the bone chips, so it's still healing, even though the flesh and bone around the incision sites are fully healed. Because the body's natural reaction to healing is to promote blood flow to the area - blood filled the cartilage to help it heal and caused the swelling. He showed absolutely no signs of pain or discomfort the entire ride, so based on that alone, I should NOT have given him bute. I know now for the future - LAY OFF THE BUTE!!! It's such a habit that I have to (shamefully) admit I don't even think about it. Swelling? Gram of bute. It's naturally ingrained into my brain and last night I definitely should have stopped to THINK about why in the world that swelling and heat was there. His body is doing what it needs to be doing - HEALING THAT CARTILAGE! (With the help of Flax, Cosequin ASU, and Adequan IM, that is....) Next time I will think twice before dosing him up.

On an emotional note: I am very impressed with how quickly he adjusted to this new barn. He's very calm and relaxed and just seems happy all of the time. He always has his ears up in a comfortable way, not an "I'm new here WHAT'S THAT?!" type of way. I'm astounded with how fluid he's moving after a few days on that indoor arena to hack and every day I get a text update from the owner of the farm letting me know he's doing great. She loves him and says that they're snuggle buddies. Jimmy is reminiscent of a puppy in that regard - if someone is up for a snuggle, he's all in to be your buddy!!

Tomorrow I will be teaching Dori at the old farm and hacking Jimmy at the new farm at some point. I can't express how grateful I am that things are working out so beautifully. I am truly blessed that this transition has moved as gracefully as it has!!