I guess this is the first post of 2019?! It has been a slow winter when it comes to riding… between the weather closing trails, and my truck issues, and the fact I know Sully won’t back off a step-up straight load for the person who has offered to come get us, we haven’t gotten much of anything notable in.

We did start off the year with a short little ride on NYD (1.5 miles)

Then, once hunting season ended we were able to go a little further on our next ride (2.5 miles).

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Though the rides were short, I still felt like Sully was not quite right between those and working in the arena on occasion (which I always forget to track!). He was having difficulty when I’d clean his back hooves, kicking out if you were working on his left hind, the feeling of a hind foot sinking out from under us randomly, and me feeling “off kilter” when in the saddle. I scheduled a follow up visit with Jessica and Jeannie for the end of January as I didn’t want to continue training and pushing towards a ride in March if there was something wrong.

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Thankful for a great friend, we worked out the timing of the appointment with a backup hauling plan if my truck decided to act up – And it did. So, Amanda, Morgan and I took Sully a little bit north for a workup. First off, he worked out of a slight lameness while on the lunge for them to watch him move. Jeannie found some swelling still present in left stifle, and his flex test showed us he is just super flexible in general 😛
Moving inside the clinic, his SI was indeed a bit locked up and out of whack again. He got the full fixing up treatment between Jess & Jeannie and he also had the left stifle injected. We reviewed his diet and blood work from November, talked hoof trim, and checked saddle fit. Another increase in feed, a round of antibiotics, some trim changes to make, a green light on his saddle and we were set to go ride. We plan to redo the blood work and recheck the stifle at the end of February, as well as check out his hooves and decide on the plan for our ride season as well.

I took him out for a ride on the Sunday following the appointment, and while he was very calm minus a few spooks the cross ties during grooming (spooks are unusual for him) he was super spooky and balled up once in the saddle. We actually ended up taking a big fall in the mud together when he spooked and scooted his hind in a slick spot along an incline; he did a very good job of not squashing me as we went down onto his left into the ground. I have a nice bruise to show for it, not sure if it is from the stirrup, the ground or the saddle in some way. He popped back up quickly, and we went into the arena for some more lunging and trying to see if something was goosing him. I mounted from the ground and he bolted forward, but eventually settled in for some walking in there, and we went back in and untacked. I soaked his feet while he ate dinner and called it a day.

So that brings us to yesterday – we did a just shy of 1 mile ride between the arena and a solo walk up the driveway with very little antics. One thing different about it – I didn’t use his hind scoots. I’m not sure if it made any difference, but I had a thought that maybe the hinds with gaitors in place were a little too snug and bothering him. He appreciated the front boots on the gravel driveway so I will work on the hinds and see if we can get a more comfortable fit – if that was even the issue vs. just an off day for him before…
Or maybe it was me that had the off day? I made sure to keep myself in a positive mindset and emotional state yesterday as I know that can play a huge role. I got a ton of yawning and sleepy eyes during our tacking and untacking, and good sighs and blows when we rode, so I feel like I was doing something right!

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Other updates….
The truck saga is still going 😦 It stayed with the dealer again till mid-Jan when it stopped acting up randomly and they let us take it back to have a 4×4 during the snow storm. A week later, it started acting up again for us, but intermittently so it was another week before it went back. I have contacted Ford customer care and requested a buy-back, but was denied because we are outside the VA lemon law (18mos and problems started at 20). But, I do still have the regional rep working with me to ensure we get a car even if the dealer doesn’t have one… It has been in another week with them for testing, the data sent back to Detroit for analysis but we think their big storm had them shut down last week! Still on the wait and see path… Fingers crossed we get some news this week!

Prophecy is doing well, recovered from his bout with rain-rot this year – poor guy!

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