31 March 2011

Well, now I am even more confused as to what was going on with Cruizer.

On Tuesday I went out and lightly lunged him. He was hyper, forward, and sound. I got on and he moved out just like he normally would, without me having to get after him at all. He didn't mouth the bit at all (something else that's been going on), and never hesitated to move forward. I did not have spurs on. Both canter leads were sound and forward as they normally would be. We did some lead changes, and worked on changing speeds within the canter. There was A LOT of traffic, so at times it was a bit hard to maneuver, but he worked through it better than he normally does and didn't get upset about it whatsoever. Our ride was awesome.

So now I'm wondering what was going on. There were only three things really different from last time.
1. Arena was more recently dragged and still kind of fluffy
2. He had a course of thrush buster & two courses of Farrier's Fix Hoof Oil on his feet.
3. The girth was a hole looser than normal.

I have no doubt that the Thrush Buster and Farrier's Fix helped at least a little bit. Whenever his feet get sore it seems that after a day or two of Farrier's Fix he is good as new.

He has always been sensitive about the girth. He has very sensitive and allergy prone skin. Maybe the girth being tighter was pinching him somewhere and made him not want to move?

I really don't know. I'm gonna try and ride today and we'll see if he's back to normal or off again.

4 comments:

  1. Glad he seemed better. Maybe he was just a little body sore of having an off day. Who knows with these silly creatures...

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  2. Erratic performances can be caused by a lot of things. Muscle soreness and injuries are common causes.

    Ulcers can also produce strange reactions to girthing and moving off the leg. It's something to consider.

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  3. Yeah I was going to suggest tummy discomfort. Ulcers?

    I probably wouldn't worry about it too much unless he gets bad again. I'm glad he's feeling better. I bet the hoof treatments and loose girth both helped. Thrush can cause quite a bit of pain. Anyway try not to worry about it. If you clean his hooves everyday before you ride it really might be worth your time to get him comfortable with a spray bottle. The salt water is a great preventative for thrush and is cheap. Not trying to be pushy, I'm just amazed at the change it made in Chrome. :)

    Let us know how your next ride went. I bet he'll be fine. Everybody has off days.

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  4. Hi Chelsea, thanks for stopping by my blog.
    I'm glad to read that Cruize is improving.

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