Several things in our horse world have progressed. If you are a regular blog reader this update will make sense, as details leading up were played out in previous posts.
Here is the rewind:
• Riding in my husbands saddle feels sooo much better. Needless to say, I am no longer riding in mine. I will be selling it, and putting the $ towards the cost of the custom saddle I ordered.
• After consulting three vets (including a Chiro and an Acupuncturist), reading various resources, countless interrupted sleep, discussions, soul searching, over a month of very limited riding, two lameness exams and x-rays. I had Koda's hocks injected. The decision wasn't made lightly. Altho I don't like them, in the end I do feel it was in his best interest.
• I still haven't gotten back to loping. Different saddle, different horse (cuz he feels a whole lot better) and too much junk in my head. Right now I am trying to re-connect with Koda in other ways. It just feels right.
• I audited a Mark Rashid clinic. To put it mildly, I was extremely disappointed. I know (and still think) he is an amazing horseman and writer. However I was the only auditor among 6 of us, and the only one not from the less then accommodating host facility. It was all very awkward. With the exception of one, the lessons were all linked to previous days. Not at all what I expected. Very little instruction was given "that looks much better" only goes so far for the viewer/rider. I was stunned. I hope my experience would have been different, given other circumstances. After a very long drive to/from, and watching almost 5 hours of lessons, I learned to not audit one of his clinics on the last day. Yep, that's it.
• Nemo had another bladder ultrasound. Our vet recommended not re-flushing at this time. "The sand" aka calcium build-up was floating (vs settled). We put him on a round of antibiotics. The thought was perhaps he had a bit of residual infection that was causing the kicking discomfort & sprinkling so soon. It appears to have worked!
• The photo's I took at the PRCA Rodeo (Midwest Horse Fair) have been well received. One of the trick riders asked to purchase her photos, and use them for promotion. It's a huge compliment! I chose to abide by the Fair's photo policy, and did not sell any of my photo's - but I did share them with her. I am pretty excited to have another (non-horse related) photo opportunity coming up this weekend!
With all that said, I am moving on.
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| snapshot from last weekend's getaway |
5 comments:
Just one thought - the last day of one of Mark's clinics is designed for the rider to demonstrate that they can do on their own what was discussed and taught in the first two days. It's very common for Mark to make few if any comments - the point is for the rider to go home knowing how to do things without Mark being there to tell them what to do - it's the wrap-up, graduation day. If you missed the prior two days, it's likely much of what you saw wouldn't make sense.
I had no idea his clinic was treated as a series. Wish the host had told me when I emailed about auditing the different days etc. What a shame...
Thanks for letting me know Kate, I feel a little better about what I observed.
Bet you can't wait for your new saddle. Glad you and Koda are finding things to work on together. I'm still lunging Blue and Dusty and hope to ride soon. We have had miserable weather too. Sounds like yours.
It sounds like Koda is feeling better since his hock injections. If it helped then that's a good thing too. Good to hear Nemo's treatment is working too. Things seem to be looking up.
Sorry you didn't like the clinic but maybe if you go to another one you could ride and get more benefit out of it.
Very happy to hear that Koda and Nemo are doing better! That's something to be very thankful for. As for the clinic, I have ridden under several different clinicians, and that is always the way they go. There really is no other way when you're working with the same group of people. And that's a good thing - as the riders have progressed! Next time, I hope you just bite the bullet...and ride!! We've been having lots of rain too!! As for rainfall here, and snow pack in the mountains, we are at 97% of "normal". And that is all within the last 2 months. In Oregon, never fear - the moisture will always come. :) However, things have changed this week, yesterday was 84 and today we're currently at 88!! Talk about a change - last Sunday we had a fire in the wood stove. We're sporting shorts and sandals and are loving it! Soon, my friend; very soon...
good that you have found a comfortable saddle for now, the custom one will be awesome I am sure. Sounds like you looked it all over thoroughly before injecting his hocks, I hope it resolves things for you both .Too bad about the clinic and facility
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