I thought for a while that it might have been me, because Archie trained me well, but he was a nutter for my trainer, too.  Then I thought that maybe he was just weak.  But while he got to the point that he was willing to pick it up in the round pen, that never transferred to under saddle work (when I know that he was using himself correctly, versus willy-nilly running).

I called the vet out, got the flu, cancelled, had the vet out for an eye emergency, rescheduled, and finally got the guy seen.  I should say - this wasn't a dramatic lameness.  The only symptom that something was meh is the guy's reaction and feeling about the right lead.  He'll pick it up in front, cross behind, swap behind, and/or break behind.  So clearly something was fucked up in the hind, but not enough that my meager butt palate could notice at the trot.

My super vet did some palpations in the cross ties while I explained all the randomness with this issue, then we put Whiskey through his paces on and off the lunge line in the round pen.  My vet immediately saw "a shortening of the cranial phase" in the right hind, at a grade of 2/5.  I did not.  I had to ask because baby brain, but the cranial phase just refers to the path of the leg towards the head.

The vet then flexed each hock/stifle ("upper flexion") and Whiskey earned himself a 3+/5 on that right hind with nothing noticeable on the left.  This led us back into the barn, where Whiskey got himself a nice, relaxing cocktail and his first stifle injection.


I promised him that the tenderness and day in a stall would be worth it, because he'd feel so much better in a couple weeks.  Fingers crossed he feels good enough to give me the right lead soon.

I'm not a barfer.  I don't have a strong stomach (motion sickness, you my friend), but I'm pretty good at not tossing my biscuits.  In neither pregnancy have I vommed as a result of the pregnancy, though there was one time that I had to pause while riding Archie to dry heave over his shoulder.

And then I got the flu.

Lemme just say, it's great to be hungry again.

I'd hope to accomplish more over the past weekend, but that didn't happen.  A lot of stuff didn't happen.  I didn't debut Whiskey at our first rated show.  I didn't find a new saddle that magically made him stop acting like a douchebag.  I didn't do much other than toss and turn and slip liquids for about three days.

Before getting sick (like, hours before), I tried a local Albion SLK Ultima.  I loved it.  My trainer thought it was a smidge too narrow and gusseted.  So now, at her recommendation, I'm reaching out to Trumbull Mountain to get their recommendations on what'll better fit the Spotted Dick.

I did have time (last night, en route to my first real meal in days) to draw a winner for the WTF contest.

I'm bummed that I didn't find out the information I wanted, but I am pulling hair (hopefully tonight?) for Texas A&M.  I did find out a random fact about the Whiskers that has me scratching my head about his breeding, so now I'm even more interested to see what they say.