Second Ride

Let it be known that a happy Jan takes lots of pictures. They may or may not be blurry.

Mikey felt like his old self last night. He had a bit of exaggerated hock bending and stiffness when I took him out of his stall, so I was worried about how he'd feel under saddle. He kept that right up until I got him to the mounting block.

Sitting on him last night was bliss. My boy was back. I took up contact and added some leg and off he went into a big swinging walk, nice and through. I trotted him a bit for my trainer, and he never took a bad step. Something was still different feeling behind, but it's not a hitching feeling. My trainer suggested that it might be the lack of shoes behind that I'm feeling, because he looked pretty damn good. No shoes meant the hoof could slide a bit on the grass instead of biting into it, which helped him not catch and jerk his hock when he was playing outside. In riding though, it might be sliding and moving a bit more without the shoe. I'm also not encouraging him to sit behind and just taking whatever he'll give me, so he's kicking his hind legs out behind him much more than I would normally allow.

He was light in my hand, soft, and had those wonderful floppy dressage ears. He was not the clunky, heavy, awkward moving horse he was the night before. The biggest comment from everyone who was out was that it looked like he hadn't had any time off at all. He looked just the same as he did before surgery.

I can deal with it knowing we'll have good days and bad days. No more panicking about the bad days.

A great view.

Disappointing First Ride

So I got to ride Mikey yesterday, for the first time since 1/25? I think that was the last time I got to sit on him. I was all excited to have him back, do some long and low in walk and trot for 20 minutes, and give him a hug.

He got his hug, because none of what went wrong was his fault. He did everything I asked, quietly and with a lot of try. But his hind end doesn't feel right. I'm hoping it's just a strength issue and a stiffness issue from being in a stall for the last two days after a good romp on Monday, and the 60+ days before that.

I started by walking him for almost 10 minutes. I wanted to get used to sitting on him again (holy cow, he's wider than I remember! Shea is a skinny narrow thing, I'm used to her!), and him get used to me being up there and getting himself balanced. He felt really good, no hitches, and he was willing to walk long and low and through. He was heavy and clunky feeling, but he's still tired after his day outside on Monday and out of shape, so he gets a free pass.

I asked him to trot, and that's when he started feeling like crap. I knew from watching him long line that he starts out stiff and works out of it, and that's what he did to the left. He had a hitch to his right hind, but within a lap he was feeling normal. The short sides weren't easy for him, which is completely understandable that he can't hold the throughness and support both of us on the short side.

I took him right, walked a few laps, and then trotted. It was awful. Not as bad as when he first got the injury, but not good. And he didn't work out of it. He got fairly close, like the lesson horse that totes little kids around but isn't really quite sound, who gets his bute every day and trucks along. I ended up posting on the wrong diagonal to make his job a bit easier, so he didn't have to load the right hind with my weight in addition to the supporting weight.

I took him for about 3 or 4 laps of the arena, just trying for long and low, and he really struggled. The short sides were the worst, he laid on my hand and hitched behind. If I posted on the wrong diagonal, that seemed to make the short side more bearable.

I stopped him and asked for a canter to the left, mostly for my own benefit because I'd watched him be a crazy boy for how many weeks now and I needed to canter him to prove to myself he's still my good boy. His left lead canter was a disaster because it was on the forehand and clunky, but otherwise felt fine.

I quit and did our icy hot routine: ice on the hock for 20 min, back on track hock boot for 20 min (they create warm), and ice again for 20 min.

Uninterested in our icy hot routine. He was very bored.
This pic does highlight the scaring on his white foot. He had the scar when I bought him.
The white marks above it are a couple years old.

I don't know what I was expecting. I expected a rough start, but not for it to linger. He's been on 2-3 month stall rest before with his old bowed tendon and came back from that feeling pretty much normal.

I was so upset, I didn't even get an ears picture while I was sitting on him to commemorate that fact that I CAN sit on him again. So here he is, all dressed, in a new saddle pad I got from the new Dover store, a clean saddle and bridle, and basically decked out in fantastic black and white clothes. He wasn't cooperating.

"No, I don't want to look at you, I want to mess up Lucy's blankets."

I hope it's stiffness from lack of movement and strength problems, not that he's going to be permanently lame behind. Maybe it's all that combined with the fact he is tired- he worked Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday in preparation for being turned out all day Monday (trying to curb the jumping around). Then he worked Tuesday because they were in and I didn't want him going out Wednesday with 24 hours energy from being locked in his stall. He worked yesterday because they were in again. Only 15-20 minutes works each day on easy tasks. I'd rather he be tired because then when he's free to do as he pleases, he'll graze instead of jumping around. I'm going out again tonight to ride him so my trainer can watch him and maybe sit on him and feel what he's like. I know I'm being overly paranoid, but I really want someone with a better eye and feel to watch him work.

I'm sure his future contains trail riding and hacking around the farm, so still rideable. Crossing my fingers for more though.

On another note, on the back of the tendon above his right hock, he lost all his hair from the wraps he had on for a month and a half. While we wrapped it loosely and used Elasticon to hold the wrap up, it still rubbed him through all the padding we had on his leg. I don't think anyone did anything wrong to make it rub, but it's just one of those spots that extended wrapping will make the hair rub off (it has been rubbing since day 1). I had asked the vets at OSU if they thought the skin would scar (on the rub, incisions, etc), and they said no. Everything should heal over just fine, and the hair should grow back normally.

I'm excited to say that the patch of hair that rubbed off is growing in white! It's still more skin than hair right now, but the hair that is there is white! Is it sad I wanted some of the hair on his hock to grow in white? I really wanted the big incision to grow in white so he'd have a stripe down the outside of his hock. As he's gotten older, anything nick or scrape that ends up under a wrap has grown in white. He's got a couple white lines on the front of his front left cannon bone (visible in the icing picture above).

It's no fun unless you get a scar, right?
I couldn't get my phone to focus properly, sorry!

I'll see my trainer tonight, and get her feeling on him, and we'll take it from there. He'll have Friday off (I need a day off from driving the 35 miles to the barn), and he'll see the AccuPatch lady on Friday. She found a couple spots on his front end, but more on his hind end when she looked him over a couple weeks ago. I'm going to ask her to focus on patching his hind end, and if there's patches leftover to do the front (you can only put 6 pairs on at a time). If she can patch 6 pairs on the body and still put a pair on the hock, I'll have her do that.

Mikey's First Turnout in 2 Months! (Video/Picture Heavy Post)

I spent the weekend getting Mikey ready to be turned out for the first time since 1/31/2015. You already heard about our antics Friday and Saturday. This post is for Sunday and Monday!

My husband and I went to his parent's for Easter, and the barn happens to be on the way to their house, so he picked me up from the barn on Saturday, and we stopped back on our way home Sunday so I could work Mikey on the long lines again (and pick up my car). My husband took some video for me, and I grabbed a couple screenshots:

Two months of stall rest doing nothing but eating certainly helped him fill out!

Asking for canter = Ok to buck. What do you mean it doesn't?

I can't blame him for bucking when I asked him to canter. He's a TB that's been locked up. All I can do is manage it and try to contain him and wear him down with over his back work.

His starting trot work to the right was uneven behind, with the right hind lagging/stiff etc. I wasn't really sure, it looked like his hindquarters had extra wiggle. I'm trying to dig up a video that shows it. He worked out of it within a few minutes, so I'm thinking it's just a stiffness from being in a stall and it just needs some physical therapy.

I took a half vacation day Monday so I could come out to the barn before feed time to long line Mikey again and be there when he went out for the first time. He was super. Quiet, a bit tired behind (go figure- 2 months of stall rest does nothing for the hind end supporting muscles), but is good spirits and happy to work. A few bucks in canter, but nothing bad. He even had a stunning transition to the right from canter to trot where he used that right hind leg perfectly for support.

We turned out all the horses before turning out Mikey and King (the fat lazy pony), so we could spend time watching the two of them. We walked them over to a small field that they'll share for a couple weeks and hand grazed them for a few minutes. Then my trainer took off King's halter, and I took Mikey's chain off, then reached down and unclipped him entirely (halter stays on for now). He grazed for a few minutes then realized he was free.

He trotted off, then took to galloping, and trying to get King to play and run with him. He tried everything: running right next to him, biting him, kicking out at him. Everything. That pony is awesome, he just stood there and grazed and pinned his ears when Mikey got close. Poor King Pony. Mikey wasn't nice to him!

I took this video near the end of Mikey's antics. Change the setting to 1080p HD! For some reason Youtube won't default it to the setting it was recorded in!



Some screenshots from the video:

Ignore the dirt pile. There's a small construction zone below this field that is going to be trailer parking. They're leveling the hillside and graveling the lot.

I love the thoroughbred stretch. He never found his gallop at the track though!

Hop!

Start of a bigger buck.

Air!

Please stop kicking out with your bad hock.

Getting his Arab look on.

Where can I find this trot in the dressage ring? Without locking him in a stall for 2 months beforehand?

"No one will play with me. I want to play!"

He quieted down after a few minutes of galloping. We were happy he wasn't bucking and jumping too much. I know none of it is easy on the joints, but it's the jumping around that bothers me. He's made to gallop though!

I hung around the barn and went up to check on the two of them every now and then. Mikey seemed to be agitated about being outside. He got used to being in his stall, and didn't seem to know what to do when he was on his own outside. He likes his routine! I know King was never his best buddy either, so he barely counts as a friend to be turned out with.

Calm!

When I left Mikey had managed to split his lip open. Sigh. Probably did some more jumping around and bit it. At least it's not the hock!

On Wednesday, we ride! Or I try to sit on him without getting bucked off.

Day 61 (and therefore 60) Post-Surgery Has Arrived!

Posting from my phone, apologies now for any formatting issues!

Yesterday was day 60 and Mikey was allowed to go back to work! Yay! After taking care of the horses in the am (I am a barn slave for part of this holiday weekend), I pulled Mikey out for a short work on the long lines.

He was very well behaved for about five minutes, then when I got dumb and corrected a bulging right side, he took off bucking and jumping like a horse who was wearing a girthed up saddle for the first time. Bouncing on all four legs at the same time, so much air, more air than I've seen him do in years, and here I am, at the end of the two lines, trying to get him back under control. I made him work like a gentleman for another ten minutes after he exploded, but then pulled him up to check on his hock.

It was blazing hot. Scary hot.

"I'm not sorry Mom."

So I threw him in his stall, flew down the hill to Sheetz and bought a bag of ice, then across the street to Walmart and bought some gallon ziploc bags, back up the hill, then did this:

Makeshift ice boot. 

I decided I need a pair of hock ice boots after using my teeth to hold the bag of ice up while wrapping a polo and then standing wrap around the damn thing.

All was well though, his hock cooled down considerably and the swelling stayed at his new normal.

Today I did the morning barn work, and took him out again, expecting more jumping around. I was pleasantly surprised!

My horse had a thought process and a work ethic! He was no worse for wear from his shenanigans yesterday, and we worked for about a half hour over his back on the long lines until he kind of had enough.

Learning to be an upstanding horsey citizen again.

I decided to do another dumb thing and take him with me to my trailer to get my lower leg ice boots that I had forgotten about yesterday. I put his blanket on and left his fleece dressage sport boots on, and we went for a walk in the sun. I gave him some of his  lead rope at the trailer, but he pulled away from me and took off. He bucked twice, then galloped back to the barn, me chasing after him so he wouldn't keep heading down the driveway to the road.

He ducked down the side path to the back of the barn and towards the mares' field gate, which conveniently had mares by the gate.

He feels perfectly fine by the way. The trot he took across the driveway and down the side of the barn was tail held like an Arab, neck arched like one too, and a big floating trot with suspension that would make any warmblood jealous.

I caught the naughty boy, who was happily grazing next to the girls, and took him back to his stall where he could wait while I went back to the trailer and got the ice boots.

This is what happens when you gallop away with a chain over your nose.

I was able to rig one up across the front of the joint, and I may not buy new ones. This works well!

It does the job!

Almost Ready for Work and Turnout!

Day 60 is this Friday, 4/3! Mikey is allowed to start light work and be turned out again.

Mikey's shoes were a concern this month. He was due to be reset on 2/9 (8 weeks), which we skipped because he just had surgery and being a little long would be fine to stand in his stall. When I took him back to OSU, I asked if it was ok to reset his shoes. OSU directed us to remove his hind shoes, and to not let the farrier do too much bending, or any pulling. My trainer and I weren't keen on pulling his hind shoes, Mikey had taken a liking to the support they gave and we weren't sure standing around was the time to remove support. We weren't concerned about the bending, our farrier is great and very conscious of injuries and not making them worse. She consulted with him, and said he agreed with OSU. As he put it, "I can fix the hoof if it breaks down, but I can't fix the hock." He was not concerned about the bending either, he could do it with minimal bending, but he was more concerned about the pounding that happens when he nails in the shoe. He pulled Mikey's hind shoes around 3/16 and trimmed and reset his fronts (13 weeks after his last shoeing... nothing we could do about that though) and he'll put them back later in the year when Mikey's workload merits it. I don't know why, but the loss of his hind shoes upsets me- like it's a nail in the coffin that holds our old competition and riding goals.

Mikey is getting better, and he certainly feels good. He's taken to bucking and squealing and trying to kick his stall down every morning. He gets yelled at, has the decency to look contrite, then bucks and squeals when you've left the aisle. When you come back, he puts on his cute "It wasn't me, Mom!" face and there's nothing you can do to stop him.

How can you be mad at that face?

He's worked everyone over. He just stands there and looks sweet with his head hanging out of his stall, and he gets love and treats and pats. Spoiled rotten.

I took this video on 3/21, walking in a small circle around me outside on the driveway because no one else was around that could walk and trot him for me. I think his right hock looks good, bending just as much as the left. He started on the OCD pellets that day.

About two steps after the video ended he squealed and bucked a few times until I got him back under control. Sigh.

He hand walks for about 20 minutes every day, and he now walks with a chain over his nose because he can't be trusted to walk politely anymore. I walked him twice in the evening last week and he got to calling (which he never does), then started letting loose little quiet squeals, and eventually blew up. I got the chain, put it over his nose, and he quieted immediately. I don't even have to engage it.

We had some lovely weather this past Sunday, so I walked Mikey outside. He got all excited, tried to buck and pull away from me, jerked himself into his stud chain and then was like, "What the hell?!?!" and quieted down and was a gentleman to walk after that. A very alert gentleman, but good about keeping out of my space and all four feet on the ground. We meandered around the gravel part of the property, walking up a hill to the first of the two outdoors. I let him have a good look around before walking him back down the hill.

It finally occurred to me that I could hand graze him! Doh, I don't know why I didn't think of it when I had him outside for the few outdoor walks I've had him on. Probably because he's only allowed to walk for a short time, so I assumed I had to put him back in his stall. He moves around in his stall, and he moves a little as we hand graze, but I bet it's similar.

Happy horse!

He was a very happy camper. I had to put him away so I could set jumps for my trainer so she could jump Cody and get a good school in, but I took him back out while we were trying to pass the time before bringing the horses in. It was too nice a day to bring them in around 3, so they stayed out until about 4:30.

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Our plan for introducing him back to turnout has changed many times. The only thing we've kept with every idea is that he must go back to work first and do some work over his back before he's allowed back out. Here's our ideas, as we thought them up, then promptly ditched them:

1. Ace him for the first day and turn him out in a 24' square temporary fencing. We ditched the small area because if he runs and bucks, he's just going to turn hard when he hits the fenceline. Then we ditched the Ace idea in general because if he's loopy and tries bucking around he might kick or misjudge something, and fall. Remember, with drugs comes poor decisions!
2. Turn all the horses out, do a half day outside with exercise in the morning, then hand walking all the way out to where his old herd eats hay at the top of a big hill. Tossed this one simply because he'd stir up the herd and get them running up and down their big hill.
3. Keep him in for another month and put him to work for that month. Let him heal more and work more, then put him out May 1. We got rid of this one as it was a lot of work on our end, more hand walking at a minimum, and probably more work that he should do, and the work wouldn't be hard enough to get his energy out anyway.
4. Turn out with a horse that's part of a 2 horse herd where the second horse was leaving. They'd share a 1 acre flat field. This one got the boot because the other horse is also an excitable Thoroughbred who will run if Mikey runs, and then they'd run each other, and Mikey might get kicked as they played.

If you haven't figured it out, my trainer and I are both terrified to put him back outside. She knows how much I've spent to fix him, and she does really care about him. She knows how much he bucks and plays when he hasn't been locked up for two months. She doesn't want a pasture accident to undo all the good healing that she's worked hard to get. I also care about those things, but I trust her to do what she thinks is best.

We settled on this: I'll work him lightly Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday morning this weekend. I'll already be out Friday and Saturday since I'm helping take care of the horses while she's at The Fork 3*, and Sunday my husband and I will be driving past as we come home from his parent's house, and then I took a half vacation day on Monday so I didn't have to pay someone to work him. Monday after he works, we'll turn him out in the indoor to get his bucks and running out on good soft, solid, ultra flat footing, and then turn him out in the 1 acre flat field with King. King is an ultra fat, ultra hairy, unflappable older pony who's goal in life is to eat as much as possible. He won't kick or partake in running like a fool.

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I am not going to be sitting on him this Friday. Or Saturday. Or Sunday. Maybe Monday. We taught him to long line before his surgery, so I think I will start there. I know he'll buck and play, but I'm not about to let him buck me off (so no sitting on him), and he won't be able to carry on as much as he would if I popped him on the lunge line. I might see about attaching a chain to one line and hooking it over his nose, just in case he gets out of hand. I hate to match up stuff like that, but he is absolutely not allowed to jump around like a fool. Maybe I can dig up a western curb chain and put it loosely over his nose. I rode a jumper pony that went around like that. So if he started to get out of hand, I can pull back a touch harder and shut it down.

A new Dover Saddlery store opened about an hour from my house on 3/26, so I went there a couple times last week as I thought up stuff that would be great to get on super sale. I don't normally buy from them because they are way too expensive and my usual tack shop sells the same thing for much less. I did order a new surcingle from Dover though, which I'll be picking up in store sometime this week. They don't stock the Cadence Surcingle in that store, but it can be shipped (for free) from one of their other stores to this one, so I don't have to order online and pay ridiculous shipping. My old one is nylon and neoprene and does the job, but it doesn't have the shoulder blocks and turns sometimes. Between that and the girth biting me every time I girth him up (cheap nylon), I decided a new one was in order, especially if I was going to spend a bit of time on the ground with him.

All black, and made of leather and web. Yay!

I will keep you all posted on his progress!

Getting Back Into the Swing of Riding

Over the last two weeks I've been riding what I've dubbed "The Shea Monster". She's a 7 yr old OTTB who needs retraining and has a lot of potential for eventing. Our rides consist of go straight, try to bend around the corners and circles, no running, no head high in the air, no curling, no falling on your face, no stopping, and no turning around and bolting to get away from other horses in the arena.

"Do I look cuter with my tongue out?"

So she sounds like a mess right? Well she kind of is, but she's super bright, has a lot of try, and has all the mare attitude and more that you would ever want. She's going to be something nice, for sure.

She also likes me- I went to get her out of the field and she nickered at me :-)

"Please bring me in. I'm from Ocala where it's WARM."

By the end of my barn sitting weekend (3/21-22, trainer went to a show), I had Shea working through and soft in walk and trot for most of our rides. I had ridden her all week beforehand because my trainer was prepping for her own event and her young horses got the week off. Things had been going well, so I tried to canter Shea on 3/21, which was a disaster. No wonder my trainer said, "Don't worry about the canter. Do walk/trot hell with her." She wanted to run into it, which I wouldn't let her do, even if she's a baby. It's not her first canter. I finally got a canter and had to pull it up halfway around the arena. Or rather try to pull it up. She went around with her head in air like she wants to do in trot, but tried to pair it with running away, shorten the neck, etc. I wasn't alone in the arena, and I wasn't in complete control, especially if she pulled her sideways freak out, so I was more concerned with getting her pulled up than fixing the canter.

My trainer rode her on 3/23 and said, "She's so much better! Good job!" Yay! I haven't spent a lot of time on green things in a long time, so I wasn't sure if I was actually helping the little mare. Green ones weren't always around, or available for me to ride if they were around. But right now my trainer has 3 young horses of her own to work, in addition to her 3* horse (Cody), and her many training horses, and I am short a horse, so I can pick from her list of horses and ride something (Cody is becoming less of an option the closer we get to Rolex).

She tackled Shea's canter a little this past week and said it wasn't as bad as it was, but you have to apply the same strong half halt from hell, force her to go through instead of inverted, and then soften and give as soon as she does. I'll give that a whirl this week when I have the ring to myself.

I rode this past Saturday while lessons were going on, and I ended up sitting on her for an hour and half, then she stood in the indoor for another half hour. She was going well, then lost her cool again when I trotted a circle at one end of he arena, the lesson cantered a circle at the other, and we passed head on. She spooked right, so I nailed her with my right spur and she stopped immediately. We had the spooky thing happen a few more times before it subdued into: shoot right, block right, move left, block left, shoot forward, block the running away, stop dead, kick on. So she melted down into stopping, prancing in place and trembling.

I got her working again, sent her in trot over some poles for something to think about, and then quit partway through the next lesson (Ed was back for a lesson with our trainer) when she had at least tried to go back to work. I decided to sit on her in the middle of the arena and watch. I ended up getting off when Ed's owner wanted to get rid of her jacket, and we wanted to see if Shea would freak out with it near her face.

Nope. Trainer rubbed it on her face a little first to make sure she wouldn't completely melt down, then literally tossed it over Shea's face. Covering ears, eyes, nose, everything. That wench didn't flinch or even think about moving her feet. We did that a couple more times and she kept cool as a cucumber. If I had my phone on me I would have taken a picture.

Other horses in the arena? Not cool with Shea. Cover her face with a jacket? No problem. Whenever you're done using her as a coat rack is cool with her. Wench. I guess that's mares for you. Pick and choose what and when it upsets them.

I think this graphic from Horse Nation will apply to Shea:

I hung out in the arena with her, fully tacked up, and lined her up near the canter poles to force her to stand there while Ed worked around her in his lesson. Coming up behind her, coming at her head on, circling, etc. She eventually reverted to pinning her ears instead of spooking. The logic is she's got to be able to handle a XC warm up ring, so she's going to spend time with other horses in the arena. Our barn hosts 3 hunter shows throughout the summer, and my trainer said "She's going in every single flat class." I asked, "How many are you going to be dismissed from?" She laughed and said, "A lot."

Ed's owner offered to let me try him after her lesson was done. He's not the best mover but he's very safe and sane, but turns like a tractor trailer. As in, if you want that 90 degree turn across the school, you had best plan and start turning much sooner than you would with any other horse. In his downward transitions and circles he tends to lose the outside hind, and his bend. So I'm good at getting the bend back, and using my inside leg to support horses that fall in during downward transitions, but he threw me for a loop where I needed to support more with my outside leg in the downward transitions. Neat guy. I'd like to spend some more time playing with him because once I got that worked out, he was soft and through and very pliable.

A quick side note, while my trainer was gone, I taught a couple lessons. Here's a picture of 18 hand Ed before tackling the poles from hell on 3/22:

Ed and his mom evaluating my poles from hell.

Mikey Jogging, AcuLife Patches, OCD Pellets

So while I was off working at my real job last week and riding Shae over the weekend, Mikey was hanging out in his stall. After the injection he needed complete stall rest for 3 days, so no hand walking Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

I walked Mikey Sunday after riding Shae and being ground crew for the weekly jump clinic. I walked for 10 min or so, and then asked my trainer to watch him jog. He was given a Grade 3 lameness at OSU, but it was barely visible, just the right hock not flexing as much as the left. He's always been weak in that hock, so I wanted her to watch him trot because she knows what his "normal" is (even if it's a lameness on that scale).

I jogged him away from her, then took him across a diagonal so she could see from the side. I had given him his head so he'd be "free" and he jogs well without shenanigans... usually. No problems on the away, but on the diagonal I asked for more, she clucked, and he tossed his head, flung his legs around, and moved out while arching his neck like a fancy boy. Everyone laughed, but she said he looks super and very close to his normal, and didn't see a reason I couldn't take him down centerline by August.

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On a side note, we talked Saturday about me taking Cody to a USDF show to finish my bronze after Rolex. She had said before I could take him, but in all seriousness, even if I had a fancy newer trailer, I'd be terrified to haul a horse as valuable as him (I'm sure we're looking at 6 figures after Rolex), when I didn't own said horse. So I asked if she could spare a weekend to play in the sandbox, and maybe bring one or two of her young horses that need to get out so it wouldn't be a total loss for her. I believe one she got in the fall last year competed in hand at Devon, so he's already got a USDF number and everything. She said absolutely, we'll go to one of the bigger shows that runs 4-6 rings. She completely understood that I didn't want to pressure Mikey to be ready, or take another year to finish my bronze, because in reality, Mikey might never be ready. He may never recover enough to help me finish my bronze, and Cody will no longer be available to me at that point.
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We had a (free) clinic Sunday with a woman who uses Aculife patches on horses to help relieve pain and tension, and aid in healing injuries and reducing swelling. The patches can be used as an alternative to acupuncture. They do not deliver any kind of medicine to the horse in any way, so are safe to use at horse shows, and have no withdrawal period, so they fully comply with all FEI and USEF drug rules. You put a max of 6 pairs of patches on the horse, sometimes 7 pairs depending on where they are. They go on acupressure points. They have a max effectiveness at around 12 hours, but you can ride with them on and leave them on for up to 3 days (which is when they usually fall off on their own). When they fall off, there's no wait period, you can pop new ones on again for another 3 days. They can be used on points that will help relieve pain, or several points for calmness. We jokingly asked if there's points on humans for losing weight, she said yupp! There are points for helping cut down on cravings. We were like, oh!

She also takes thermal images that she can send away for another team to look 7 layers deep at injuries or pain points. She can see hoof abscesses right as they're starting so you don't waste any time getting the farrier out or simply soaking the foot while you wait for the farrier. She expressly said, "Do not call me in lieu of a vet or farrier! I can help while you wait, but make sure you call them!" I trust someone who says that for sure. No asking for blind following.

If I was smart, I would have taken a picture of what the patches looked like! But a google search produced this sad, non-photographic image of the patches:

Pretend this image is real life. It's a tan and white material on the sticky side of  a clear sticky circle, approximately and inch to inch and a half in diameter.

The patches come in positive and negatives. I forget which is which, but one is white, one is tan. The tans go on the left side of the horse, the white goes on the right. Maybe white it positive? I think that's right. I get all messed up because I use red and black in the accounting world for negatives and positives, which screws me up in the electrical world because it's swapped. Anyway, straight from her pamphlet:

"AcuLife non-transdermal patch system utilizes new technology to gently stimulate acupressure points to literally prevent, and remove muscle spasms, tensions, and strains throughout the whole body."

I don't normally subscribe to stuff like that, but I've spent so much money on Mikey trying to get him back to pre-injury wellness that I'm willing to listen to just about anything that could make him heal just a little bit better, as long as it won't hurt him and the worst I'll do is throw some money away.

I watched Cody be treated as the demo horse. He is a cocky, look at me kind of horse who is not known for being very touchy-feely, especially with people he just met. She felt him all over and put some patches on him, just the right side to start. Before she put the matching patch on the left side, he was already licking and chewing, and dropped his head. After she had all of the patches on, he nuzzled the bejesus out of her, stopping just short of licking her face. Not in his character at all!

The next couple horses had similar results: yawning, licking and chewing, relaxing, heads dropping.

The horse that had the most issues and the best reaction was a little chestnut QH mare who came to her owner several years ago with a rearing problem and in need of an attitude adjustment. She was just unpleasant to be around, and hates you touching near her face. Her owner recently started her on gut support for possible ulcers, which has helped her attitude immensely. The horse came into the arena all tense and barely standing still (not uncommon for the horse, and she rarely relaxes anyway). The woman went over the horse and found 7 points just in the front half of the horse, with many more in the back of the horse. She put 7 sets of patches on the horse because of the sheer number of problem spots. Within five minutes, the mare was licking and chewing, nuzzling and gladly accepting face rubs.

Mikey was not on her list of horses for the day, but I asked her if she could look at him because of the severity of his injury. The horses that got full body thermal imaging had to have their blankets off for over an hour before being looked at, so Mikey couldn't get the thermals of his body, just the leg. She still went over the fleshier parts of his body, identifying places we could work on later after he returns to work. There was one point by the poll (she asked if he likes to fake his connection or lock his jaw- yes and yes), one point by the whithers, one by the loin, then a couple in the hindquarters. One of those was the horsey hamstring essentially, and was very very sensitive. All of those lead to his trouble with truly sitting for our collection work. I didn't want his body patched because I would have no way of knowing if it helped and he was just standing in a stall anyway, so she put two white patches and one tan patch on his  bad hind leg, slightly above the most swollen/scarred part of the hock. The white patches went on the inside and outside of the joint, and the tan went right on the front.

Yet again, I failed to take a picture. Doh. I'm not very good at this.

Now Mikey didn't have the same reaction to the patches the way the other horses did, simply because they got a full body patch job and he got a hock patch job. But my trainer reported to me on Monday that the hock was the smallest it's been since the injury. I think I might contact the woman and ask if I can buy a box of patches from her to patch Mikey's hock myself over the next few weeks. I don't mean to short change her, but it's a $50 farm call if I'm the only one (she waives the farm call for 5 or more horses) and $20 for her to do the patches. I can't afford that all the time, and I wouldn't patch his body myself, just his hock.

She did take thermals of the hock for me, and she was surprised at how good they looked based on what we had told her was wrong. Normal horses have soft yellow bodies with soft red legs. Injuries come up as bright yellow or worse, bright red/pink. She took 4 pictures of his leg, each at the quarter view.

In the second and last pictures you can really compare the two hind legs, the damaged one and the normal one. She expected there to be more bright yellow and some bright red. I didn't have her send them away for analyzing- I know what's wrong underneath.

If other people are willing to have her out again, I'll have him full body patched at that point to see if it helps him out as we get back to work. It certainly can't hurt him.

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Speaking of doing things that may or may not help the horse, but won't hurt him, I finally clicked the link to OCD Pellets from their sponsored rehab posts on Eventing Nation. This OCD stands for: Optimal Cartilage Development Pellets. Sounds right up Mikey's alley.

I read what they claim, ingredients, and then endless testimonials. And I mean ENDLESS. Mostly racehorses, most with spurs, cysts, OCD lesions, fractures, everything leg bone related under the sun. It increased bone densities, made fractures heal and almost disappear from x-rays, in general made a lot of those type of problems disappear or almost disappear, and eased the pain of osteoarthritis. All (of course) said OCD products helped immensely. None had the chip and fracture bed problem Mikey has however. To have so many raving reviews, and a good one for an 18 yr old Thoroughbred performance horse who had osteoarthritis problems, I couldn't not look into it. Especially due to the sheer number of ultra positive reviews (and more positive reviews from other websites). The product has to have SOMETHING going for it.

I stole these handy dandy factoid images from Eventing Nation, who had them courtesy of OCD Doc's Products Inc. I hope they don't mind me posting them and free advertising.

I have a feeling this product is NOT USEF legal for shows, but it doesn't matter because Mikey isn't showing anytime soon.

We had pulled Mikey off oral supplements simply because as he gets older, his digestion isn't what it used to be, and his body could end up cannibalizing the supplement for food instead of allowing it to be absorbed where it's really needed. We opted for hock injections since that was his main pain point, and they helped immensely, and for all of last year, he felt really super. Now that we've poked and prodded his right hock, it's a waiting game. I decided if there was anything I could do to help him out, I would do it because I want my partner back, and I'm so far into this monetarily that spending a couple hundred on supplements that might help, even just a little bit, is worth it to me. He's barely lame. All he needs is a little bit.

Basically, they're doing a free 4lb  pail with any first time customer order. A 4lb pail has 64 scoops in it, if you're feeding at a maintenance level. Mikey would be eating at the maximum level, so of course it's only good for 32 days. They said to feed the free pail first and if you don't see any results, send them the paid for pail back for a full refund. Good enough incentive for me!

I did email Dr. Beebe, the doctor behind the science, who replied very promptly. I gave him a brief overview of what happened to Mikey and what we've done so far, and asked two questions: Is the product effective in older horses that might have weaker digestion and how long should I give the product to show a result? I figured I'd need more than the free pail to see a result, and I was right. I got a several paragraph answer, but to sum it up: He said it works well in older horses (as I expected he would say), and I may or may not see a result in 30 days due to Mikey's age and the nature of the injury. He said to allow 4-6 weeks to see any benefits. He encouraged me to follow up with Mikey's progress.

I was good with ordering it as long as he didn't say anything bad about using it with older horses (significantly less effective etc). So off I was to look at prices (ok so it's not the first time I looked at them):

Get a look at those prices!

I decided to buy a 4 lb pail with my free 4 lb pail. I'll check on him close to when both pails should be finished up, 64 days/approx 9 weeks, and see what he looks like. I'll probably buy another two 4 lb pails at that point so he has a solid 4 months on maximum dose. It certainly won't hurt him.

I ordered his OCD pellets yesterday, along with more Chia seeds (I'm not sure they're doing any good, but I'm not going to change his supplements now while he's recovering from his injury), and I ordered a new jack for my trailer. Expensive morning.

Mikey was a good investment. I can barely afford to buy HIS drugs.