2013-06-29

silkyraven: (Dino)
2013-06-29 07:01 pm
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[Dino] Brief update

"I have to get up early tomorrow because my horse is seeing his osteopath" is apparently the most middle class thing anyone has ever said. But so it was this morning as we were on the yard by 9am so the lovely David could tweak the ponies.

We've been having some problems saddling and girthing Dino lately. He's not been happy at all about being tacked up and then been unhappy about being mounted so we had David pay particular attention to his back/shoulder/belly and make sure there's no underlying problem or pain. David think he's fine, but could see he was anxious about being touched round his girth area. There doesn't seem to be any pain though so it's probably in the pretty baby's head. This is what we thought but it's good to get it confirmed by a professional.

Dino has the same specific issues as previously - the right side of his neck that was crunched up last time seems to have sorted itself but the top three vertibrae on the left side are 'fixed' so he can't bend correctly to the left. This is obvious on the lunge in particular where he seems to pull away from me. David did some quite heavy 'adjusting' to those and Dino will be quite sore tomorrow, poor thing. He found that particular process quite alarming.

His other problem area is his right lower spine and hip - we discovered last time he pelvis isn't straight. Our work here remains working over raised poles, with 3 raised on the right and 2 on the left, and haunches in on the left rein only. David also suggests working with a pessoa to get him moving better which we will try once I get my hands on one.

All in all pretty much as expected. Pleased there's no underlying physical issue in his back, although in some ways the mental problems are harder to fix! Generally he's going ok at the moment. Being out in the field suits him well and I feel we're getting a bit more consistency in the school and we've been working a bit in just the bridle without the cavesson which is a big step forwards. And we've been wandering up the bridle path a fair bit too. Hopefully the weather won't be too awful for the rest of the summer so we can keep him working!