12/30/2023
Today was such a momentous day!
I've been on a journey with a client's horse, that I am honored to be a part of. This lovely gelding is almost 5 and he was started well, but due to a saddle fitting problem, his behavior started to devolve. Mind you, the owner took extreme care to get a "qualified" saddle fitter, but as it tunred out months later, the saddle was over an inch too wide for him. For non-horse people, that would make the saddle fit horribly, tilt forward at the trot transition and smash down on what we call the wither - that point where neck meets back. Very painful for him. Add to that he had riders who rode with very tight girths (not me, as anyone who knows me, can attest to) and it compounded the problem to where he was bucking.
I was brought in to solve the behavior problems of his growing anxiety and we were making good progress, but still not really seeing success in geting him back to work under saddle, without it being dangerous.
Ultrasounds were done and the vet said he is perfectly fine physically, but prescribed Zoloft for his anxiety. The owner was all in and while I have never worked with a horse with that much stress, I was hoping this would help.
In one week's time of his being on the correct dosage (4 rides), I was able to successfully mount him, put my right foot in the stirrup, check the girth, and ask for a walk. All with him being calm 15 minutes in to the walk, I even got a snort breath (a sign of relaxation). The owner thought that she would have to hold him and lead him for weeks with me on his back. We did that last Friday and this Tuesday. Wednesday she was 20 feet away then walked over to be his crutch, in the event he bolted or bucked.
Today, even though he had no turn out the night before because of the rain and it was a breezy 60 degrees this morning, we walked up to the mounting block, I waited until his head went down - which took less than a minute - and I gently swung my leg over and sat. He didn't lift his head, get wide-eyed or tense up. Totally opposite of the many times we had practiced this before. Then we did very basic dressage of circles, serpentines and halt/walk.
The medication he is on is just enough to take the edge off, but not enough to hide anything that causes him anxiety. So my touching his flank was a tense moment for him, until I just held lightly, then he turned his head to me and tried to graze. We would prefer to still see what we need to work on, so that when his Rx runs out, we are done using it as a tool and he goes into work relaxed and happy. We always quit on a good note, even if it means a 20 minute work out or 45. There is no agenda or time frame and I really appreciate the owner being all in with that. Did we give each other a hug? Yes we did!
The chiro is coming this weekend and I think that that will be the finishing touch to getting over this training hump. We want a safe horse, who enjoyes being ridden, whether that is hacking out on the trail or in the arena.
