In just one short week, there was a noticeable difference in Koda & Nemo. Some of what we experienced may have been attributed to the warm 80 degree weather, the kind you want to bottle - and then open up during a cold or rainy stretch. Unlike some other horses at the trainers, ours were handling our early jump from winter to summer pretty well - winter coat and all. Spring serves a transitional purpose, we just didn't get one this year. In reality, another week of training and strengthening was showing it's effect. Some weeks it shows, and other not as much. Nemo was no longer "racey". Koda's collection response was back, and he continued to move out. It always helps to be able to ride in the large outdoor arena.
Fast forward to this weekend. We recently got some much needed rain, that stuck us back in the indoor yesterday. It's just not as much fun to ride inside for horse or human. Koda's forward go, pretty much got up and went. Repeated cues were needed on more then one occasion. He seemed bored, more then anything. I tried to change it up as much as I could. There were some cones set out, which added a structure to move around. Our trainer spent most of our ride helping Brad & Nemo work on softness, and their lope. It seems to be the initial training focus, where both horses need work. Speaking of work, I need to spend more time on my side passes and attempted spins, they felt pretty sloppy...and I really like doing them.
On a different note, Nemo's bladder biopsy had to be rescheduled. The specialized equipment was out of state, being used for a training. Waiting another week turned out to be a good thing. When he went into the vet hospital for his exploratory procedure, the preliminary ultrasound showed the mass in his bladder had started to break down on it's own - it was a clump of calcium. They didn't need to do the biopsy, instead they were able to finish breaking the mass down and flush the calcium out. He was happy to get back to his home-away-from-home. Our vet will continue looking into things that may be contributing to the build-up, starting by testing our hay. We are pretty happy with the news, and look forward to many years together with our big entertaining sweet guy!
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| Leftovers are good! Nemo figured out if he flips the tire at home, just right, the grain that was wedged between the tire and pan from his messy eating brother (Koda) pops right out and lands in the pan. |
3 comments:
That's good news, and I hope you find the source. I wish I had an arena here, the round pen is so boring and the girls really need some schooling time that is better to do in an arena than out on the trail.
Oh my, aren't you lucky that the biopsy had to be put off. Lucky Nemo!
Ahhhh, softness! Yes, we are working on that, too. I'm actually seeing some changes with Doc - hooray! One thing that I find hard is that I was an English rider and kept light contact on the mouth. My new trainer doesn't want us to have contact and I feel like I'm driving a car without a front end. It's a very strange feeling!
Thanks for stopping by my blog and commenting about our Blogger Brunch. You are right. It was truly a wonderful day!
Keep us posted on Nemo's health. I know it's after the fact, but after reading your Posts on Nemo's issues I truly believe our horse, Champ, had the same issues a few years ago but was mis-diagnosed with an impaction. Champ's symptoms were identical to what Nemo has experienced. Although the impaction resolved itself, poor Champ was still ill. After an ultrasound reviewed "crud floating around in his bladder" we were advised to put him down, which we did because we didn't want him to suffer any longer. We have always wondered if there might have been another road...
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