Blog Thankfulness

Sometimes I'm very happy to have my blog. Sometimes it feels like yet another thing in my overly busy schedule that i feel guilty when I'm not keeping up with it the way I'd like. I'm always very happy to read everyone else's blogs and be a part of the community,  but there are times when it feels like a chore to be keeping up with photos and videos (ha, like I bother with videos) and putting it all into words. But this is the first time I've really been so grateful to have it.

I've ridden Jazz a couple times in the last couple weeks. She's been okay but not great. There was a lot of head tossing,  and much bigger than her normal. Her had was basically in my lap half the time.

I started vaguely thinking about it and remembered this time last year when her had tossing was getting out of control.  

Just before I really started blogging, around last November/December, Jazz started head tossing more than what I would consider within normal range of naughtiness for her.  It occurred to me she hadn't had her teeth seen to in a while, and I asked my trainer (at the time, not my current trainer) if that could be why she was acting this way.  I had her checked out the following week, and there were big hooks on her teeth and some lacerations on her cheeks, which were much worse on the side where she had been refusing to turn lately.  

I had them floated, and was told she'd need a re-check in six months, since they could only do so much in one day.  When she was acting up again, I had her teeth redone in June.  

It was so unbelievably nice to just have my blog to look at and be able to say, "Oh right, she got her teeth done six months ago, and the vet said they needed to be done again in six months", and suddenly everything made sense.  

And really, that's the biggest point of my blog for me right now.  Records.  I am notedly terrible at keeping records and dates straight, and worse at taking photos, but my blog gives me a way to work on that while preserving the memories of my time with my excellent red pony (though she sometimes tries to convince me she's forgotten how to be excellent).  

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.  

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!