So..yeah...this is hard.
**Ehh, warning. This is probably gonna be realllly long. Sorry...=/**
Most of you have kind of a basic idea of what Justin's been going through the past few months. In a word, lameness. It's been off and on, different reasons the vet can't seem to give us a straight answer, we've tried different things like bute, treated him lyme disease, blah blah blah.
he was sound for almost three weeks, and then friday, he just randomly pulled up lame. i felt so good about him being sound for so long, but in the back of my mind, i knew he was going to end up going lame again. the vet can't seem to give us a straight answer really. he kind of just threw some lyme medication at us, told us to put him on some bute, which helped, he felt better on it, but it only made it so he didn't hurt, it didn't take away the problem. and now today and yesterday, he's been lame again. ther'es no heat or anything, he's just off. and i can't seem to find any reason for it. =/ I think he just needs a good month or so off. No riding, just letting him heal up.
But also, Wendy (my instructor) was talking to me about him today, and she said that the vet said he could jump, but only small x-rails, nothing big, no verticals. Deana (his owner) never said anything about this to me, and I've jumped him 2' verticals a few times now, when he's been sound mind you, which now im thinking is part of the problem. So now I feel bad, because I'm the one that jumped him that high, when he wasn't supposed to, but at the same time, I can't be mad at myself, because no one said anything to me about it,so I knew nothing about it, so I couldn't have stopped myself. So now I'm mad at them for not mentioning anything, especially when Deana and Wendy know that I jump him.
Wendy had me ride him today, walk for 20 minutes, trot for 5 minutes on the buckle both directions, then walk him out or another 10 minutes and put him away, to maybe just see if he would work out of a little stiffness or something, but it did nothing.
So....*sigh*...I've come to the decision....that I'm not going to jump him again. And I'm cutting back on my riding with him. When I do ride, it'll be mostly walking work. Nice loooong trail rides, which is a plus, but probably only a little trotting here and there, with lots of walk work in between, and probably only cantering every once in a while, for a very short period of time.
I'm literally about to cry right now, like, my eyes are watering, because I just said that. I'm actually shaking too. I've always had him to fall back on, whenever I lost my confidence while riding, especially with jumping. He took me over my first oxer, my first vertical, my first 2' jump, actually my first anything over an x-rail, my first actual jump course, my first like, double jump line, almost everything except for my first jump. Lol. If it weren't for him, I'd probably still be afraid to trot little x-rails... =/ I can't imagine not be able to go back to him for support when jumping anymore...
He's just been in pain off and on for so long now, and I hate seeing him like this. I can't stand seeing him in any sort of pain, especially when you can't do anything, becuase you don't know what to do, becuase you have no idea whatsoever what's wrong with him.
But...he's my baby, and he saved my life, so, if it's going to help him, then it has to be done. No matter what. =/
Most of you have kind of a basic idea of what Justin's been going through the past few months. In a word, lameness. It's been off and on, different reasons the vet can't seem to give us a straight answer, we've tried different things like bute, treated him lyme disease, blah blah blah.
he was sound for almost three weeks, and then friday, he just randomly pulled up lame. i felt so good about him being sound for so long, but in the back of my mind, i knew he was going to end up going lame again. the vet can't seem to give us a straight answer really. he kind of just threw some lyme medication at us, told us to put him on some bute, which helped, he felt better on it, but it only made it so he didn't hurt, it didn't take away the problem. and now today and yesterday, he's been lame again. ther'es no heat or anything, he's just off. and i can't seem to find any reason for it. =/ I think he just needs a good month or so off. No riding, just letting him heal up.
But also, Wendy (my instructor) was talking to me about him today, and she said that the vet said he could jump, but only small x-rails, nothing big, no verticals. Deana (his owner) never said anything about this to me, and I've jumped him 2' verticals a few times now, when he's been sound mind you, which now im thinking is part of the problem. So now I feel bad, because I'm the one that jumped him that high, when he wasn't supposed to, but at the same time, I can't be mad at myself, because no one said anything to me about it,so I knew nothing about it, so I couldn't have stopped myself. So now I'm mad at them for not mentioning anything, especially when Deana and Wendy know that I jump him.
Wendy had me ride him today, walk for 20 minutes, trot for 5 minutes on the buckle both directions, then walk him out or another 10 minutes and put him away, to maybe just see if he would work out of a little stiffness or something, but it did nothing.
So....*sigh*...I've come to the decision....that I'm not going to jump him again. And I'm cutting back on my riding with him. When I do ride, it'll be mostly walking work. Nice loooong trail rides, which is a plus, but probably only a little trotting here and there, with lots of walk work in between, and probably only cantering every once in a while, for a very short period of time.
I'm literally about to cry right now, like, my eyes are watering, because I just said that. I'm actually shaking too. I've always had him to fall back on, whenever I lost my confidence while riding, especially with jumping. He took me over my first oxer, my first vertical, my first 2' jump, actually my first anything over an x-rail, my first actual jump course, my first like, double jump line, almost everything except for my first jump. Lol. If it weren't for him, I'd probably still be afraid to trot little x-rails... =/ I can't imagine not be able to go back to him for support when jumping anymore...
He's just been in pain off and on for so long now, and I hate seeing him like this. I can't stand seeing him in any sort of pain, especially when you can't do anything, becuase you don't know what to do, becuase you have no idea whatsoever what's wrong with him.
But...he's my baby, and he saved my life, so, if it's going to help him, then it has to be done. No matter what. =/