Gasp...Wheeze...OXYGEN!

If you've been following AWIP, you might recall from a couple recent posts (this one and this one)  that Sug, the kids, and I are all currently getting physical therapy for various ailments.  Sug's recovering from some inflammation in the branches of her suspensory ligament, I'm dealing with herniated disks and sciatica, the kids both have knee issues and Soph has added upped the ante with an inflamed growth plate in her heel (or Calcaneal Apophysitis, for those of you who like tongue twisters.)


A family that therapizes together...uh, spends a fortune??

Things are slowly progressing.  Soph is not icing as much, Noah has finally been pain free and played in his first rugby tourney (hooray!) and Sug and I are up to 15 minutes of trotting, short and long sides!  Her recovery has been due to the excellent care of our barn owner and vet, and the no doubt (in my mind) to the laser therapy she's been getting from her Aunt Carolyn, my friend and owner of Peak Performance Therapy.  This laser stuff is amazing -- Carolyn's done my back several times and it really helped (although God knows what the neighbors thought, seeing me bent over her ottoman with my pants unbuckled! LOL!)

Sug getting laser therapy from Aunt Carolyn
(Peak Performance Therapy)

The thing is, we're SUPPOSED to be trotting 15 minutes consecutively.  Well, we do try, but the Sainted Mare and I find that a wee bit ambitious.  By the 4th minute we're both sucking for air, dripping with sweat, begging for mercy and ready to call "Uncle."

Speak for yourself.  I could go at least 8 minutes.  Maybe 10 if you'd let me do a slow trot.

OK, Sug. The point is, this getting back in shape thing ain't easy.  We're doing our best, and we do the 15 minutes.  Yes, it's more like 3 sets of 5 minutes, but that does add up to 15 minutes TOTAL.  Then we cool out, she gets her bath and her ice, and I get my BENGAY and my wine.

Here's to baby steps!  Cheers!

Tonight's vino therapy - a lovely New Zealand sauvignon blanc.

Function Follows Form. Who Knew??

You know those Conformation Clinics they do in just about every equine publication?  The ones where you have to pick the horse whose confirmation best suits a particular job?  I suck at those.  Never fails.  I never pick the right horse.  Worse yet, I simply cannot see half the stuff the author tells me is wrong with the horse.  She'll say one horse has really long pasterns, and the horse that beat it has great pasterns, but the winner's pasterns will inevitably look 2" longer to me. 

I bring this up because confirmation faults have bitten me in the tuckus in both my equine life AND my personal life.  It comes as no surprise that Sug's upright pasterns predisposed her to osteoarthritis in her coffin joints.  She's a bit tied in behind the knee, which could have contributed to our current issues with suspensory branch  inflammation.  If we ever decided to breed her (she's very well bred and was a broodmare in her past life) we'd have to choose a stallion with excellent leg conformation in hopes of getting a foal with better legs.

What is surprising me at the moment is that recent events with my kids suggest I should have put more thought into my own stallion selection.  My stallion  husband has lousy stifles knees and hooves feett .  Oh, yeah, and a slight curvature of the spine. Both my kids are in physical therapy for knee issues that are directly related to poor knee structure.  Both also have faulty foot alignment that leads to uneven gaits that cause heel pain in the one and compounds the knee pain in the other.  Thankfully their backs are strong and straight.

I am currently in physical therapy as well (cue Sly and the Family Stone's, "It's a Family Affaaaaiiiiiiir...) but my problems stem from old injuries, not poor conformation.  As a broodmare, I bring crappy teeth and poor eyesight to the gene pool.

The stallion in question, for all his conformation issues, is in great shape, active as heck, and is the only one of the lot of us that is not in PT, mainlining supplements, or getting regular massages and/or chiropractic.  Unless you count the cats.

Go figure.

Sug Goes to Rehab...

Don't let the headline of this post fool you. The Sainted Mare has not been snorting bute or sugar cubes or anything like that. We're rehabbing her suspensory injury and we're now at the second stage - the trot stage. Mind you, we've done a lot of very exciting work at the walk; straightness, getting her to come off my leg better, keeping her rhythm steady. Let's face it though, after aw hole the walk gets ether, well, pedestrian.

This weekend we were finally allowed to trot, long sides only. We did our 30 minute power walk warm up, and then I asked her to trot down the long side going down to the barn. Sug almost jumped into the trot, she was so excited. She wanted to power down the line, and tried to show me her extended trot. I had to bring her back and explain to her that although I was very impressed, I didn't want her to reinjure herself. She was so happy to be moving again, she was snaking her neck and tossing her head. It was really cute to see her so happy, and really hard not to go over the 5 minute moratorium as it felt so good!

I'm out of town on a business trip now and my trainer will be amking sure she gets her procribed. She'll be doing her 30 minute power walk, on the bit, and 5 minute trot, also onthe bit, long sides only. I'm bummed to be away, but consoling myself with the fact that when I get back we'll be up to 10 minutes of long-side trotting. :) Bliss!

Thanks for reading, and if you've ever had to rehab your horse, why not share? I'd love to learn from your experience.