I woke up this morning with a sudden realization...
I mean, sat straight up in bed and went, 'I'll be damned'.
The reason Moon is running better is because of the stifle injections!!!
I didn't magically become that much better of a rider and he didn't just magically decide he wasn't going to dive-bomb the 2nd barrel anymore....
That accounts for the slight hesitancy I'm feeling in him. He's waiting for whatever painful sensation he was having to deal with to hit and it's not coming, so he's just going ahead and gliding into the turn.
What a freaking relief, cause I was starting to think I was crazy all this time when I would try to explain to people his insistence and determination to get right up to that pocket and then just dive out from under me. No matter the training exercises we employed and no matter how much I tried to prepare for it, I pretty much knew it was going to happen during a competitive run.
Wow!!! I can't even tell you how bad I feel for being so resistant these last couple of years to go the injection route. My poor horse!!
I even feel a little bad for myself. All this time I have been beating myself up for not being a good enough rider to 'fix' the problem with any consistency during our runs. Well of course I couldn't fix it...You can't fix something that a horse does when he's doing it to defend himself.
The weird thing is, is Moon has been ultrasounded and flex tested and there is no actual problem with his stifles and it wasn't his hocks...until late last summer, when the hock that wasn't fusing started giving him trouble (and that was the opposite hock...but that makes sense too because he was so insistent about pushing that hip out when he turned left, that he over-worked that hock). He has changed dramatically. Too dramatically for it to be a training/riding issue that became resolved in just a couple of runs (after a couple of years of battling over it!!).
The only other thing that was done was the injections.
Unbelievable!!!
8 comments:
eureka!
Hallelulia!
TAAAAA-DAAAAA!!!
Seems the A-Ha! moments are going around. I wonder if it is something in the water???
I think we all have a tendency to underestimate and misinterpret pain in our horses unless it is something blatantly obvious. An awful lot of "training problems" end up being pain problems.
Not sure that I think of it as an 'ah-hah' moment...I mean I didn't do the injections on a whim, but I didn't expect a different horse in just a couple of runs. I hoped for improvement or at least the sense that I had alleviated any chance this was a pain issue...But getting this dramatic of an improvement?...
Not exactly in the realm of expectations. Especially since Moon has had this ducking in problem for so long. It just doesn't seem possible that he would just stop. At the very least MOST horses have to sort it out and be convinced that it's okay to do it correctly. Moon just seemed to be testing to make sure and went straight to correctness.
Now I just think he is even smarter than I thought he was before.
I'd totally forgotten that you'd had him injected...makes sense, especially if after a few months or so, the problem rears its' ugly head again. But for the record, I agree with what Dancing Donkey said. I'm so glad to think he's feeling that much better!
Very cool!
You are one of those great horsewoman who are willing to spend the time and the money trying to figure out (and then treating) those physical ailments that could be causing a performance issue. I am SO glad that persistence and dedication is going to pay off for you. You sure the hell deserve it!
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