Thankful For the Small Victories

Pony kisses!

Black and I went back up to Tryon Equine on Friday for a check up! Black got his second round of shock wave therapy and I talked with Dr. Boone about where we are headed. We jogged him and he looked sooo much sounder! Dr. Boone said he looked about 60% sounder so that was very encouraging. She was also very happy with how much the swelling had gone down. . It made me feel like I was doing something right and heading in the right direction. We didn't ultrasound but Dr. Boone said that she was sure it was a tear. She just didn't think we would see a huge difference. Black was much more cooperative for his shock wave this time around! Probably because he was much more comfortable. Dr. Boone and I talked about Stem Cell Therapy and PRP and what options would be best for Black. Dr. Boone did her PhD work on Stem Cell in horses with tendon injuries- so I trust her 120% and I know she'll guide me in the right direction. Because of the bad timing with the holidays coming up we decided that doing fat transfer of Stem Cells would be the best route for Black. Black will go up the Monday after Thanksgiving for the cells to be cultured and then the lab will process them and the next day they will be injected into his suspensory! We'll go back up in January and there is a possibility that I will be able to walk him under saddle after that ultrasound!!! It will be a very long road before we're even cantering again but I will be thankful for the small steps!

I had a bit of a breakdown on Wednesday for many reasons but mostly because I was terrified what news I would get that Friday. This horse has given me so much and we're not finished yet! I still have some many things I want to accomplish with Black. And I know Black is no where near done yet! I can't imagine having to retire him any time soon because he would be miserable. He lives to run around cross country. But I'm feeling much better and much more optimistic and I honestly think the stall rest will be the easy part for me. I think the hard part is going to be getting on my horse and only walking.... BUT a good friend told me to "celebrate the small victories". ;D

Horses Will Be Horses

Black being adorable!

Well this last week has been filled with phone calls, icing, wrapping, cold hosing, research, hand walking, and some crying. And repeat. This probably describes my past 13 years with horses but I've never had it all in one week! As most of y'all know Black injured his front right outside suspensory branch after landing from a fence in our lesson on Wednesday. I'm heartbroken of course but there was nothing I could have done to prevent it. Black was fit and doing his conditioning sets. (Actually fitter than he had been since summer!) I was not asking anymore of him than I had been in the lesson. I only jump once a week and I make sure it's in good footing. I warm him up and cool him down properly every time I ride him. I ice, poultice, and wrap his legs after every cross country run and I give him his down time. Earlier in October I had two weeks that I only rode Black once a week because of school work. This week I have been going over and over and over in my head if I should have brought him "back" slower than I did. The first week all he did was light hacks and I didn't even feel comfortable jumping him until 2 weeks later!! You could say I'm a little paranoid... But there was nothing I could have done differently. While that gives me some peace, it makes me nervous about how I am going to prevent this from happening after Black is rehabbed. But Black has given me and his previous owner more than either of us could ever imagine. I am so blessed to have Black in my life and I will do EVERYTHING I can to bring him back to where he was. And if I can't- I'll make him as comfortable as I can. I owe him that much.
So far Black is handling stall rest surprisingly well! He's been very calm and enjoys sticking his head out in the aisle so he feels involved in the activity. Rachel has been so great about working with me to make him more comfortable and sane. I'm so thankful for her! Our next appointment with Dr. Boone at Tryon Equine will be next Friday. We will ultrasound and Black will get his second shockwave treatment. That ultrasound will tell us more about what we're in for and how bad it is. There was so much swelling, fluid, and edema on Wednesday since it just happened that it was hard to tell what was a possible tear and what was fluid. All I know is that the giant black hole in the middle of my horse's suspensory was scary compared to his inside branch. I am praying my heart out that we will get good news next week but I am trying not get my hopes up. Dr. Boone warned me that I should count on 4-6 months and that she can't hand me a sound horse in 3 months. So I'm prepared for a long road as this will be enough of a emotional roller coaster. We will also discuss Stem Cell Therapy and PRP on Friday and that will hopefully help to prevent a reinjury- which is my primary concern. Casey Sokol, my farrier, has been AWESOME about trying to find the best way to shoe Black to help him recover. He has contacted numerous other farriers to find what has worked the best. How awesome is that?! We're looking at putting him into bar shoes, wedges, and a rim pad with frog support up front to help support his heels.
Black and I have the best team behind us that I could ever hope for so I know we will get through this. Thank you to everyone who has been so supportive and are keeping Black in their thoughts. The horse community is truly one of a kind!

Light at the End of the Tunnel

As you can tell from my serious lack of updates, this school year has kicked my butt! I haven't been able to catch my breath much less update this blog. And trying to find time to ride when I should be studying or writing a paper has been a tough task. This has been the first year that I have truly put a "hold" on my competition schedule for school and let me tell you, thank God I did! I would have drove myself absolutely insane if I would have tried to keep Black Prelim fit, go to lessons and keep up on school work. I have finally learned and admitted to myself that I cannot do it all! And that is okay. Instead I've been able to look forward going to the barn and when there was a two week when I could only get to the barn once a week- the look on Black's face when he saw me was priceless! He does like me! :)
As this semester is coming to a close and we're registering for classes next semester, I'm realizing my course load next semester won't be nearly as bad. This mean our competition schedule will be in full swing come February!! And I cannot wait! Black is back to his conditioning sets so that by mid January or so we will BOTH be fit and ready for a PRELIM horse trial by February. The plan is to take lessons with Beth Perkins while we wait for Amy Barrington to be back in action! Which I'm sure will be sooner than anyone thinks ;). I hope so because we need her and miss her desperately! I'm looking forward to working with Beth and I hope she can get us back on track. I have to say though our first attempt at lessoning with her did not go as planned! Haley Doyle and I planned to have a lesson with this past Friday and of course it was the first day in weeks we had rain. We waited for Beth's word and she said it was just too wet. About 10 min
utes later the sun came out (OF COURSE!) and she called back to say come on up! So Haley and I raced around and threw the horses on only to notice that Haley's trailer had not just one but TWO very, very flat tires. My trailer is tiny and would probably not fit Haley's 17.2h horse and Black but we figured it was worth a shot. Then I realized I didn't have the keys to the hitch. Crap. My boyfriend, Matt, had just gotten off work so he came and brought me the keys. By that time it was almost 12:30 and we had a lesson planned for 1:15 and it takes an hour and half to get to Tryon. We have a lesson scheduled for next Friday so let's hope things will go a little better this time around!

Fat, fluffy, ratchet broodmare to handsome event pony!

Black is clipped and got his mane pulled so he is ready to do something and go somewhere and so am I! We are so looking forward to getting back out there and kicking Prelim's butt! :)