Tune ups

Thanks for the comments on my last post, I am still clearly not keeping up very well, but I appreciate them!

Putting Odin back in training for the winter was an incredibly great decision as I am still barely managing to get to the barn these days.

But when I did ride a couple weeks ago I noticed two things, he was absolutely horrible in the mouth region and he seemed stiff on his right hind.  Trainer R was positive he needed his teeth done and thought it was time for a soundness check too.

A teeth float has mostly done wonders for his mouth, although he has some residual mouth stiffness (probably still expecting it to be uncomfortable).  So at least that was an easy fix.

Last Friday, the vet came to do a soundness exam and pretty much immediately said the Odin needs some help in his right hind stifle.  Not too surprising, as this has been his bad stifle since I vetted him 15 months ago and his workload has been lighter this winter.  We x-rayed it then and it x-rayed clean.

He is only flexing positive about a 1 and as a comparison we flexed the left hind and he came up positive on that stifle too, although much less so.

For now we decided to go back to routine estrogen (I had him on a 4 week cycle) and Surpass.  The estrogen hasn't come in yet but after a week on the Surpass he is feeling a ton better.  Not sure what the next steps will be - an ultrasound was mentioned but I bet that is spendy - but for now with new teeth and his magical lube, he is a happy horse again.

The winter weather has not been so kind to us, but I am relieved he feels better.

The best brain

I could probably title every post about Odin similarly and I bet it will show up again if it hasn't already.  But he continues to impress everyone around him, especially in this so far craptastic winter.

Not much has changed since my last post 3 weeks ago.  Jon got sick over Christmas, then I got sick, the weather tanked some more, and last night when it was warmer, the winds got up to 90mph.  Take a pill, CO, we are already sick of this.

from warmer times

I did decide to put him training through the end of March so if there happens to be good weather during the day, he will get worked, but it is definitely inconsistent at the moment.  Last week he basically spent the whole time wrapped up in all his blankets like the kid in a Christmas Story.  And yet while some of the other horses went basically feral and were giant irritations to handle, Odin remained polite on his lead.

Which doesn't mean he isn't feeling the weather.  In turn out, he is definitely, uh, exuberant, and he has had plenty of lunging and carefully managed rides.  But it seems pretty clear to me that his brain has come a long way since when he is feeling pretty bouncy he restrains himself to squeals and minor dolphining, and has never taken it any farther. We listen to him so maybe something would happen if we didn't, but I really appreciate his early warning system.

We jumped a little bit yesterday and while he was cracking his back over the cross rail (ow saddle cantle hitting me in the butt), he never got overly excited or did anything but lope off quietly after the fence.  Hooray for an excellent brain and careful training!

My trainer has been very complimentary of my riding too, which is a surprise to me given how I am barely riding more than once a week.  Who knew this was the key to my riding successs?  Sigh.

And one of my good friends is adding some lessons in on him after having to unexpectedly retire her horse.  She says he is fabulous and, well, I tend to agree.

So mostly quiet times but with the best TB around.