Monday was vet day. I had the Vet give Boomer a rabies shot, pull blood for coggins, start the health certificate for the April Endurance ride, and look at the funny skin spot on his neck. Turns out that the spot I have been treating like ringworm for the better part of a year is actually a sarcoid. I opted to treat it as a sarcoid and not do a biopsy which is the only way to be 100% sure. Doing a biopsy can 'anger' a sarcoid and cause it to flare and spread. So, If the topical treatment doesn't work, then we will think about doing a biopsy to find out exactly what is going on. The topical treatment is called XXTERRA and is applied daily for 5-7 days, then left alone. The ointment irritates the sarcoid, it looks much worse before it gets better, then it dries up and falls off. About 20% will return, but retreating a second time is 98% successful. If for any reason the topical fails or the sarcoid spreads, we can surgically excise it. However, as it is right over his jugular, we would like to avoid that.
I rode for a very short ride before the vet came and Boomer did very well. There was snow sliding off the roof and the big door was open, but he did very well. He had one initial spook at someone walking past the big doors where he did a perfect 180 on one back leg. It was so well balanced that I never even felt myself move in the saddle. I was actually more impressed with his ability to sit down and spin than anything else! We mostly just walked since it was only a 20 minute ride. He is doing very well and is really getting the hang of being on the bit and light in my hand. He comes into my hand on his own and is very willing. He seems to have gotten the idea that I will allow him to stretch and he doesn't need to root the reins out of my hands. We worked on some lateral work doing leg yields from the center line and along the rail. I also tried a few western spins and he was surprisingly good! I had introduced the idea last summer but wasn't able to make much progress. Now that he is reliably on the bit, no longer resistant to contact, and coming up over his back, he seems to be able to perform more complicated maneuvers more easily!
I am totally sold on dressage being a great foundation for all sports as well as a great cross training tool!
2 comments:
Me too... you don't have to have fancy anything... the ideas and concepts behind it are so "natural" and overall it is about assisting your horse's balance and the ease/fun to ride. You can go anywhere with it... I chose to stay in Dressage just cuz I like it so much, but I really do think it's such a great platform really for any other work people do with their horses...
I know this is probably not PC for me to say, but I wonder how much better off some of those DVD-ites would be if they would spend the money on basic dressage instead of DVDs and special halters. Seems like such a wonderful foundation. I see it as a jumping point for sport horse, jumpers, hunters, western, reining, endurance- anything really! Dressage emphasizes using the horse correctly and that is really what it is all about to me.
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