It's Cheyenne's 13th birthday! Yay!
On this wretchedly hot day, Cheyenne got an apple, carrots and some peppermints. I love this girl to pieces. I can't wait to celebrate all the way up until 43, and if she's able, 53!
On the tougher side, Cheyenne has been lame on and off for about a month. Since we've been together, we've had several frustrating little issues, vaguely medical. They've appeared to be more serious than they truly were, and usually she's just been one among many horses to suffer the issue.
Way back in March, she had a respiratory issue. It first appeared as potentially colic. This horrified me, and I am easy to fluster especially over something I really love. It cleared up with some dexamethasone, antibiotics and SmartBreathe. Due to the weather this winter, many area horses were experiencing it.
She's got sort of a preciously awkward conformation--short legs, big and stocky build. This complicates her movements a bit, and means many things lie on me to help correct her balance while we're riding. She trips a lot, for one. She's also always had this little head bob at the trot which would generally be a sign of lameness. But I never sensed anything MORE than a head bob.
Lately she seemed truly off. I am lucky to have extremely knowledgable horse people at my disposal, and our course of action was to bring her work load down, and use hoof strengthening ointment. Is ointment the proper term? Well, anyway. I've kept that up, and it's come and gone.
Observations now:
This summer has been very hot and dry and the horses are spending a ton of time stomping on the hard ground at the disgusting flies. They are merciless, and Cheyenne seems especially sensitive to them. She stomps almost constantly. One of my trainers heard from a vet that this has been a widespread issue for footsoreness lately.
She's got attitude, and she's a very smart horse. She manipulates and works hard to get out of working. This makes it very hard to diagnose serious issues, because she'll fake anything if she doesn't feel like doing more than eating.
Conditioning! As I've said, we've had a tough run with a proper exercise schedule. Taking an intense lesson every few days just might not be right for her. She may very well need daily or every other day workouts, to keep prepared for when she's asked for more.
I don't know. I'm sharing this because I'm scared, per usual, that something horrific will happen to this creature I have come to love more than life.
The aforementioned trainer, who is a lovely woman, said the greatest thing to me. And I'll say more about this some other time, because there's a big part of Cheyenne and I that needs to be explained. But this is what I say to myself over and over again:
It’s a partnership. Sometimes you’re ready, and your partner isn’t. Sometimes your partner is ready, and you’re not… It is what it is.
Always keep this in mind.
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