Monday, June 16, 2014

Riding? Yes, I'll hold


I suspect the fact I'm getting daily single pageviews of my page but no specific post means I've got a reader or two awaiting an update on little miss Jazz.  My blog has been broadcasting a lot of radio silence lately, and most of the reason for that is that I've had a lot of balls in the air where Jazz is concerned.

My last post was about my first lesson with my new trainer and Jazz's crazy head tossing.  I was trying to downplay it, but I was positive it was primarily an issue based on her teeth.   So, we had an appointment scheduled with the vet today to get Jazz's teeth done.  

Snoozy Jazz. 

She got two doses of sedative. 

Horses are such majestic animals. 

Exhibit A. 

Lots and lots of rinses.  Jazz was apparently saving a lot of grass for later.  
Maybe I should go back and redo my bit it up blog hop... 
Once she was done she just stared at the wall for a while. 

Then she rested her whole face on it and contemplated her entire life for about fifteen minutes. 
Anyways, there were, as expected, some hooks that were most likely the source of a lot of our issues.  Those were sorted out, and Jazz should be a lot more comfortable now.  

What was there and unexpected, was something else.  An ulcer on the right side of her upper lip (which I unfortunately did not remember to photograph).  The vet said she had maybe bitten her lip or something, and it looked a lot like the horse equivalent of a canker sore.  And as a person who suffers from canker sores, I fully understand why she was not having any of this 'flexion to the left' nonsense recently.  

cook2 300x215 Q&A with Dr. Robert Cook, Creator of the Dr. Cook Bitless Bridle (Part 1)
I couldn't find a good diagram of a bit, but a bitless bridle is the same basic idea. Just in case you never stopped to think about the mechanics of bit pressure; when you pull one rein, the bit puts pressure on the opposite corner of their mouth. So, pulling on the left rein puts pressure on the right corner, hence Jazz's all-but-total refusal to co-operate and bend her head left in the bridle lately.  
So, with any luck, her little ulcer will clear up in no time and she'll be right as rain again soon.


Oh, wait.  Jazz also got trimmed on Friday, aaaand she's a tad footsore.  The vet looked at her and said they just seem a little too short.  So that's unfortunate.  She does seem okay on softer arena footing, though, and its not the end of the world.  Everyone makes mistakes, and my trimmer is very good, so a little time will fix her up nicely.  Now all we do is wait.

At least I've got kittens to entertain me in the interim.

Babies!

1 comment:

  1. Man, Jazz got the works! I'm glad that all that's needed is a little R&R.

    ReplyDelete