Chiro
After his requisite two days off, during which it was raining anyways, I hopped on the Kid last night.  I'd read some things in this blog about reaching into your inner hooch and swinging your hips at the walk (she called it a slut walk.  I sincerely appreciated the analogy) right before I left to ride.  And I thought to myself:  I never move my hips!  EVER!


Seriously.  I've thought about it before and I've tried before, but I ultimately get lazy or feel retarded.  Previous trainers have mentioned that I need to get more forward in the walk, but that was more on moving Archie up than assisting Archie in going.  So, last night, after having dropped a Benjamin on getting the Kid comfortable, I decided to do what I could to help and sustain that investment.

And I shit you not, we had a big, swinging walk.  The biggest walk I've gotten in a while.

He felt a lot looser - more reaching under himself, more moving his butt, more rolling in his shoulders.  These are things that a few years ago, I would not have noticed.  But I noticed last night.  And when we got to the trot, I was gifted with the same trot that I had a few months ago, before he started feeling weird.  It was big, forward, and balanced.  He still got a little pissed off bending right, but never lost that impulsion.

I won't say that he's magically a hundred percent better.  But he's improved.  I still got response from the pressure test on his spine, but it was definitely not a shrieking away in agony.

Angst
I wrote before about how I was having issues with my friends.  They wanted to go out random nights, weekends and weeknights, and have "girls' nights" and happy hours.  The hubs was never invited to these events.  About the time that we started seriously working out together, I stopped going out with these friends.  One friend asked what I would be willing to do - and seriously, it's fucking simple:  invite my husband and do something on the weekend.  I get off work at five, it takes me forty-five minutes to get home, then I have to walk the dogs.  If it's a riding day, I go ride for an hour to an hour and a half (grooming et al).  Then we work out for an hour.  If it's not a riding day, then we immediately work out.  And then I go run.  Once all that is finished, it's time to veg out and cook dinner.  And I like my schedule!  When do I have time to go downtown and have a pitcher?

I saw one of my friends (D calls her my "ex-friend") recently at a group function (to which my husband was invited and which occurred on the weekend).  When I stopped going drinking, she stopped inviting me.  To everything.  If she had her way, I wouldn't have been invited to this, either.  But it wasn't her party.  Anyways, she didn't say anything to me and I didn't say anything to her and it sucked.

Date Night
In preparation for our big weekend back home, marrying off my mother and all that, the hubs and I are going out tonight.  This really isn't special, and we have a million other things that we need to do, but I'm excited for two reasons:  Indian food and cupcakes.  I'm a fat girl at heart.

We tried the two local-to-the-Southside Indian places and immediately loved Taste of India better than the other one.  Significantly cleaner and better food.  The biggest perk, other than Kingfisher beer and garlic naan?  Thursday night buffets!  With guaranteed vegetarian options!  I ask every single time to be shown the veggie plates, just in case they move them.  They never do.

And hubs is also supposed to be picking up our Gigi's.  I'm stoked about that as well.  What on earth could be better than biting into a big ol' cupcake after stuffing my face with Indian food?  Seriously?

The downside to this evening, though, is that I probably won't be able to ride the Kid.  If there's enough light after eating and running errands, I might try to hop on him bareback for a few minutes.

Ouchie, ouchie, says I.

About a month ago (everything is about a month ago), I started having pain in my left heel.  Hubs told me that it was my Achilles' tendon and that the pain would go away.  It persisted.  And it mostly hurt when I exercised, because Insanity and Asylum have a shit ton of jumps and jumping jacks and this one little reverse plank that has all your weight on your hands and one heel.

Yesterday morning, I wasn't able to put my right heel on the ground.  It took me about ten minutes of hobbling to stretch the foot enough that it felt comfortable to bear weight.  Hubs has diagnosed this as plantar fasciitis.   Yay!  This morning was better, but still a bitch.

The first thing I thought of was wrapping both legs on a horse.  The injured leg needs the protection, the supporting leg needs the assistance.  In talking to the hubs, we sorta think it happened like this:  six months of intense exercise is finally straining my body; subsequently, I'm getting all sorts of various aches and pains and I'm more susceptible to injury and illness.  I tore something in my left heel and haven't stopped riding, running or exercising.  I started bearing more weight on my right heel to compensate and to get away from the pain.  Now I've fucked up my right heel.

Any other person would take some time off.  I really don't feel like I can, though.  I'll get two days this weekend of no working out and, as much as I really, really want to, I probably won't go running on Saturday morning like I planned.  Augusta has some pretty amazing running trails, if you can find them.  I think the result will be some education from the hubs on foot stretches, some new exercise and running shoes, and some more sucking it up.  Oh, and I think I really am going to try to go to a chiropractor (maybe Archie and I can see the same one!) and see about some adjustments.  I've had my neck done before, but that was years ago.  As a spine surgeon PA, D sees patients who have been to chiropractors and had it fail, so he doesn't place much credence in them.

Let's start with the dressage lesson, because that was some crazy shit.

(Oh, and I gave my notice for the vet's office.  First time in five years that I won't be working in animal medicine.  I have mixed feelings.)

So, I got to the barn and I was the only one there.  I wouldn't be freaked out by this if I rode there more than once a month, but it was a little unsettling.  The barn owner sent me a text that if I was there, I was welcome to help myself and tack up and she was en route.  I really appreciate that she trusted me to get out the Wicked Western Pony's stuff and get him and all that.  Her daughter showed up as I was grooming him and helped me finish tacking.

Kathy came and the lesson started.  I've got video which the daughter took.  I just need to upload and edit.

Zip, the Wicked Western Pony, is a good horse.  But he's.. funny.  He's not my horse and can't tell them that they're doing wrong by him, because I don't know all the facts.  And, anyways, he's been bought and is moving in a couple months.  But he's incredibly grouchy.  He's butt-high and it always takes me a minute to adjust to the downward slope.  They prefer that I ride him in spurs, I prefer not to.  I rode in spurs on Saturday.  I don't think I'll do it again.

He's very straight.  There's no bend, no real concept of bend.  I started to get frustrated because he was cutting the outside corner, didn't get indirect rein, wouldn't move off my inside leg and I felt like a beginner, pulling exaggeratedly on that outside rein.  But, by the end of the lesson, we had bend.

This brings me to two three points:

• I can't trust my trainer.  She'd already pissed me off twice prior to this.  She's a nagger.  I don't like trainers that nag.  Maybe I'm not a rider that should be competing, maybe I ought to just be working on horses.  I was caught up in getting this horse to bend and the entire time that I'm focused on him, I'm getting this running narrative from her: drop your right shoulder, put the left spur on him, drop your outside hand, bring the inside elbow back, thumbs on top - no, not literally!, sit taller, sit straighter, fix your outside shoulder, put your thumbs on top, don't let your outside hand drift that far out, bring your outside hand back.
• I did not get bend until I stopped listening to her and just rode the damn horse.  I got contact, collection, and I brought him around my leg.  There is video and it looks good.  She was all talking about inside leg to outside rein, and I get that, I do, but until I got him collected, it was pointless.  He only started to bend when I increased contact with both reins and continued to play with them.  And she told me not to follow his head with my outside hand, in the bend, but that didn't make sense to me.  It still doesn't.  If we're doing a bending circle, shouldn't I be part of that bend and doing everything I can to facilitate it for my novel horse?
• I'm thinking about quitting lessons with her.  It's only once a month, but if my entire lesson is spent training their horse, what am I really getting?

I wrote this long, angry tirade about God, medicine and being grateful for what one has.  And then I realized that being angry doesn't really help anyone.  Unless it's like, a righteous anger and you utilize it to counteract imbalances in the world.

I went home sick yesterday.  I don't have a very stressful life, but somehow, my body is reacting as though I'm at war.  I'm too susceptible.

I rode Archie in the new bit on Wednesday.  He had a couple moments of confusion, but seemed to take to it pretty well.  And he certainly pinned his ears at me less.  I think his general grumpiness is going to improve when he starts seeing the chiro regularly.  Yes, we haven't had the first visit yet, but I'm already planning on making this a regular occurrence.  Two things of note from the ride:

• In the very first warm-up lap, I was standing straight up, tucking my cellphone into the back of my jeans (I can't find my holster).  For whatever reason, the Kid spooked.  I have to give us both props, because he only did the one giant step down/sideways and I was only touching him with my calves.  I wouldn't expect a spook to dismount me, but I was still pretty damn proud of myself.
• He reared.  It was a baby rear, but he reared.  Just a bit more than a crow-hop.  I get it, too.  I could justify why he would get so pissed off and I'm going to try not to do it again until after he gets adjusted.  His right shoulder is tight and he doesn't much care for tracking right.  I was asking him to track right in a diagonal up a small incline and bending right.  I felt his butt shudder and then he popped up.  We did some bending work after that.  I put him in the same equation after he felt loose again and he was fine.  

I'm not quiet about the fact that I don't believe in God.  When I was sick yesterday, he didn't make me better; Tums did.  When my husband found a blood clot in a patient and subsequently saved that guy's life, was God directing my husband's hands and mind?  No.  My atheist husband found that shit himself.  If your religious nature dictates that you must thank God for your miraculous recovery, fine.  But also thank the doctors and physician assistants and medical assistants and nurses that devoted their lives to learning the art of saving yours. 

See what I did there?

Archie's new bit comes in today.  Remember when I said that this wasn't going to be a horse blog, but a life blog of a person who happened to be a horse owner?  I lied.

I've seriously got to pepper in some non-horsie stuff.  Like more food, other than cupcakes.  Photos.  I've been taking fake-photos lately.  I've been itching to get some macro of a serrano pepper plant that has itty bitty little peppers sprouting.  Yeah, that stuff.  Hey, maybe even some crafty crap or fashion! (Both things I enjoy but am horrible at.)  (Because I have a short attention span, am chubby and cheap.)  (And they don't make a lot of clothes for chicas with big assets and small asses.)

So, for the past eighty-bajillion years (or six or seven), I've been riding Archie in a snaffle.  Occasionally a full cheek, but I thought that pissed him off.  Normally a D-ring.  His current bit I bought because the previous one had a questionable history (I have no idea where the fuck I got that thing) and I swore it was causing black marks in his mouth.  After buying the new bit, I realized that the marks didn't match up to where the bit sits, so I'm just retarded and paranoid.

I noticed in a lot of pictures, even though I think I have relatively responsive and gentle hands, his mouth is open.  This got me thinking about the snaffle bit.  And then I met Google and we discussed it.  And I learned about the whole idea of the nutcracker effect that a snaffle has the potential to cause.  I'm not saying that every single snaffle bit out there cranks into the roof of a horse's mouth.. but the idea haunted me.  I'm itchy about the concept of bits anyways, so that one I'm using could potentially be causing undue pain really drove at me.

I knew I wanted to switch him to a "Happy Mouth".  He has no problem stopping and he's responsive, so why not go for the least amount of bit I could?  And after reading about a single-joint, I decided that I wanted a double-joint to relieve some of that pressure.  If I thought I would get the same response from a bar bit (maybe a flexi bar?), I'd try that.

This is what I decided on: Happy Mouth Double Jointed Roller Dee.  Who knows if he'll even like it!  It's gotten great reviews, so here's hoping.

In other news, I called the vet's office yesterday to get the contact information for the chiropractor.  In Augusta, Archie was adjusted, stabbed and massaged by Dr. Ridgway out of Aiken.  I knew Archie had a lot of issues.  I didn't expect his entire body to be a red zone.  I know this time probably isn't going to be much better.  I still feel like he's got tightness in his right shoulder and his back is just fucked.  Always fucked.

After getting the information for the equine chiro, I googled her.  Who doesn't?  And I found out that she's got a website, which, while easy to do, places her higher in my estimate.  When my vet was telling me about her, he underwhelmed me.  He made her sound like a chiropractor who started doing horses and dogs in her spare time, rather than a person who took the steps to get accreditation and skills.. which she is.  She's also a horsewoman, which helps.  When she called me back, she was very friendly, very professional.  She asked a  few questions about what Archie needed and when I said that he's got continuing back pain, she moved me up on her list of priorities.  She had me rate his back pain (I'd say a five) and how long it had been going on (originally dx'd in January).  And it also seemed that she understood that I was completely bonkers about my kid and that we needed to get this shit handled ASAP.

So she's coming out on Sunday, at no additional charge.  How cool is that?  It turns out that her practice is reasonably close to where the Archman stays.  We were both thrilled about that.  And her cost is completely awesome - half the price of the other guy.  Sure, the other guy lectures in Europe.  Whatever.  :)  I'm thinking that this could be a monthly expenditure.  And maybe I can get some adjustments, too!

Or, "Holy Shit, My Butt is Bleeding."

This thing was crazy.  Crazy, crazy.

I don't remember what a lot of the things were.  Okay, maybe I remember more than I think I do.  Let's see.

Not the sexy, svelte ladies up front.  Oh, no.  Tie-dye in the back.

• Yamacraw Bluff - We climbed up a reasonable incline (up an incline?  no kidding!) and then slid down some mud.  This first obstacle was when I scratched up my butt.  
• The Lake - I'm not sure why it isn't listed, but before this, there were some up and down log things.  Climb over one and under another.  I almost broke my vajay on this one.  The actual lake wasn't a big deal.  We swam (or pulled on a rope) across a little lake.  I might have kicked D in the face.
• Sgt. Jasper's Trench - And where things get foggy.  There was this big slippery mountain thing that we had to climb.  It sucked.  And then slide down another mud slide thing into some mud.  Lots of bottle-necking here and huge potential to kill people.
• Pulaski's Plunge - Don't remember.  I'm thinking there was some mud.
• Soggy Boggy Road - There was a road.  It was wet. We ran, we didn't bear crawl.
• Pyramid Grove - They say that this is the hay bales.  They were just round bales.  What equestrian hasn't climbed a round bale?  Anyways, before this, there were these solid walls.  Two rows of two.  D had to give me a leg up to get over them.  Again, another thing that hurt my lady bits.
• Whoop Dee Doo Hill - Reasonable hill to climb, only to climb down and find out there were two more.  Following this, there were these drainage pipe things.  You could either slide down one into muddy water or crawl through one onto dry land.  D slid, I crawled.
• Tire Field - Misnomer.  Tire Hills.  Run through some flat tires and then land in a mud bog.  Climb another little hill, topped with tires, and land in a mud bog.  Repeat 5x.
• Water Gauntlet - No fucking clue.  I do know that at about this point, there was another hill to slide down, but it was tiny.  Maybe that was it.  Or was this the muddy, impossible hill to climb?  HUGE bottle neck.  Either way, at about this point we were in the wood and I hit my runner's high.  Poor D.  I deserted him.
• Slip N Sludge - disgusting, gritty water and mud thing that we had to bear crawl through.  I got water up my nose.  It burned.  I was pissed.  

Post-race, post-clean up.  Yeah, we changed clothes at my car.

This is the chick I was supposed to run with.

I joke that I'm fat and look like I just ate a very enjoyable chocolate baby.

While stripping at my car.  I'm not in pain - the sun is bright!

After all this madness, we had a couple beers (only on race day is it socially acceptable to drink at ten in the morning).  When enough time passed, we headed over to a Mexican restaurant with my running buddy.  Mm.  Nachos.  And.. surprise, surprise, it was time for cupcakes!


We went home, got clean, ate our cupcakes and watched Taken.  Again.  Awesome movie.  (Although, yeah, fails the Bechdel Test.)  And, to round out the evening:  a two hour nap, skipped Asylum and Indian for dinner.  Yum.  Over, a very awesome day.  I'm still sore and still covered in cuts.

Or... "Oh, Hello, Super-Awesome-Large-Animal-Veterinarian With Whom I Like to Curse."

Seriously.  I've never seen another vet drop the f-bomb with a client.  He didn't do it the first visit - I had to work him up to it. :)

So, he got out there, asked me what was going on, felt on Arch's ankles and asked me to jog him.  We jogged on the soft ground, no problem.  He asked if there was anything more firm and I offered up the road in front of the pasture.  I normally try to avoid having the Kid directly on the road because it scares the shit out of me.  Old hunt memories of horses going down.

But, we jogged and he was again excellent.  Walking back up the barn, the vet told me his thoughts.  I really like this guy.  He knows I'm experienced, he knows I'm going to confer with other vets, and he doesn't dumb things down.  We talked about high versus low ringbone and intra-articular versus articular.  High ringbone is the large pastern, low ringbone is the smaller pastern or coffin bone.  Intra-articular actually involved the joint.  Articular does not.  From what he felt, he said that Archie had the makings of early high ringbone in his right front.  But, and he stressed this to me, Archie is completely sound.

He actually complimented the way the Kid lifts his feet - his big stride and engaged back end.  Things I never really get to see, but know when we're doing it because it feels amazing.

Doc said, given the soundness, radiographs were my decision.  I'm a big believer in baselines.  I think bloodwork should be done on animals (and us) yearly and if there is a suspicion of organs or bones changing or having abnormalities, I think we should pop images of those, too.  So, yeah, needless to say, we were getting x-rays done.  (Side note:  in small animal vet med, we always called them "rads".  My husband says that in human medicine, they never call them rads, always x-rays.)

While not horrible, the results weren't stellar.

Right front.  I circled that because it looks funny.  Also? Toe is too long.

Blue circles were the vet's concerns.  He said that all except for the red arrow were okay, because they were smooth.  Red arrow is evidently not as smooth and a bigger concern.

Left front.  Pretty normal.  Long toe.

Left front. Still normal, though at a funny angle.

OH!  And I haven't been testing his back pain well enough.  I press but not hard enough.  Vet pressed and he squirmed in pain.  I felt, again, like a giant asshole for riding a back sore horse.  I asked what the next step was.  Meds didn't work.  Time off didn't work.  He's improved, but it's not awesome.  So, vet recommended a chiropractor, which has me alllll sorts of excited.

Damn you, Back on Track, for being so amazing.  It's like I've got no choice in the matter any more.  I will be a believer, whether I want to or not.

I contacted the company.  This is what I said:

Hi,

I haven't purchased this item yet because I'm still waiting on an official diagnosis from my vet. I was interested to see if there has been any comment made about the efficacy of the quick wraps in regards to ringbone, which my guy is suspected to have. Please advise.

Thank you,

Rebekah

And today, I got an email back from them.  Not only did they email me back, which is award-winning in and of itself, but they contacted a veterinarian to get her take!  Hot damn, I'm impressed.  Here's that email:

HI Rebekah,

Below please see an email from a vet regarding ringbone and Back on Track products.

Thanks for your interest with Back on Track.

Let me know if I can be of any further assistance.

Lisa Dewey,
Back on Track USA, Inc.
lisa@backontrackproducts.com 
641-648-2685

Hi Lisa,

Yes, using the back on track products could help relieve much of the pain associated with ringbone. As for any arthritic condition the important thing is getting that increased blood supply and reduced inflammation. Having said that, it will depend on how severe and chronic the condition is on how much the Back on Track products will help (or anything else).

There are not very many options for treatment of ringbone. Continues use of NSAIDs and/or even steroids to reduce inflammation, joint injections and even letting the joint fuse together.

I personally use the Quick Wraps for any condition below the fetlock.

Hope that helps,

Matilda Johansson, DVM

Needless to say, I'll be ordering a pair - pronto.  I think the timing is good, because it'll coincide with his summer increase of beet pulp.  He always gets a little skinnier in the summer.  In the cooler months, he gets 3 cups of beet pulp, mixed with water and his supplements (SmartFlex Senior, Ultra Cool & Complete, Lysine and 1/2 scoop of OneAC), at night.  In the warmer months, generally when it consistently breaks 90°, he gets two cups of beet pulp, mixed with beer and his supplements (all of the above, increased OneAC and electrolytes) twice a day.  So, in the mornings, I can switch the Quick Wraps for his fly boots and vice versa at night.

And I was doing some googling earlier and found this on Equibase (I knew most of this already):

Bold Archer (KY)

DK B/, H, foaled April 4, 1997

( Ocean Crest - Tell It Over, by Guillaume Tell)

Connections as of last Start:

Jockey:	Jorge E. Collazo, Sr.
Trainer:	Cinda Boone
Owner:	Cinda Boone
Breeder:	Dr. Dede McGehee

Career Statistics:

• Starts: 17
• Firsts: 1
• Seconds: 2
• Thirds: 0
• Earnings: $6,171

All Years

Year	Starts	Firsts	Seconds	Thirds	Earnings
2002	2	0	0	0	$153
2001	12	1	2	0	$6,018
2000	3	0	0	0	$0

See 2012 summary for all Horses.

Results

Track	Date	Race	Race Type	Finish	Chart	Video
Beulah Park	5/3/2002	11	Allowance	8
Beulah Park	4/25/2002	9	Claiming	8
Beulah Park	12/13/2001	2	Claiming	6
Hoosier Park	11/12/2001	8	Claiming	6
Hoosier Park	11/5/2001	8	Claiming	7
River Downs	5/6/2001	5	Claiming	5
Beulah Park	4/27/2001	4	Maiden Claiming	1
Beulah Park	4/8/2001	5	Maiden Claiming	2
Beulah Park	3/31/2001	5	Maiden Claiming	2
Beulah Park	3/13/2001	4	Maiden Claiming	4
Beulah Park	3/3/2001	1	Maiden Special Weight	4
Turfway Park	2/11/2001	10	Maiden Claiming	8
Turfway Park	2/4/2001	2	Maiden Claiming	12
Turfway Park	1/27/2001	3	Maiden Claiming	6
Charles Town	5/11/2000	5	Maiden Claiming	8
Penn National	4/29/2000	1	Maiden Claiming	7
Penn National	4/16/2000	7	Maiden Claiming	6

Or, "My Horse is an Asshole."

I forgot how the kid gets when he isn't worked hard and frequently.  He had Sunday, Monday and Tuesday off.  And without knowing if he has ringbone, if I should even be riding him right now, I had to conservatively get in the saddle today.  It made me think of when I broke my tailbone and I couldn't stay off him for the full six weeks.  It was like that.

My intentions were to just walk him in either direction for about ten minutes.  If I felt jarring steps, dismount and call it a day.  What I didn't plan for was the Archman to approach the "riding pasture" breathing fire and high as a kite.  He was a Chinese Dragon.  Dance this way, stop!  Snort and dance that way.

He spooked twice.  And ruined my plans to just walk him, because I immediately demanded that he canter.  I have to say, though, that he picked up those leads beautifully and gave me a very nice, balanced canter in both directions.  After that, his demons were exorcised and we were able to continue walking calmly.  Yay, horses!


In other news, my husband got me Photoshop Elements 10.  I've been using Photoshop for a while now and completely disregarded Elements.  I was goofing on some blog where someone said something about, started googling, found that it was geared more towards the photographer in me.  I used Photoshop for some photography edits, but it was a giant pain in the ass.  I also fucked around with it, doing some embarrassing compositions of my friends.  So, yeah.  New software makes me happy.

Or, "Force Applied Must Be Greater Than Friction."

I later learned that it isn't supposed to look like a unicorn horn.