Slow going

Miss P is slowly returning to some semblance of her old self. I think the 5 days of Gastroguard was enough to knock  the ulcer out of the park. And she seems to be doing well on the supplement. She's still not 100% herself. But she doesn't seem to be in any pain, just...cautious. Her eyes have softened and relaxed again. She actually came up to me in the stall this weekend, instead of me having to go to her. That is huge progress from a few weeks ago.


The barn owner says she is going out at night again and is socializing and eating hay while she's out. This is also huge progress from a few weeks ago.


On Sunday, I lunged her for a while to get her out and working a bit again. I should have put her bridle on, but opted instead to be lazy and lunge her in her halter. Clue #1, that I should have put her bridle on, she was pulling and pulling, and pulling. She never pulls. And I quickly came to the realization when my new-ish lunge line's chain snapped (I usually only use it for long lining...guess it's a good thing it broke before I got motivated to do that again!), that they don't make things like they used to. She didn't go far, even after she realized she was free. And stopped and waited for me to come get her. Stuffed her nose in my arm and we walked back to the barn to get the old trusty blue lunge line that has been in my family through 4 or 5 horses and 2 leased horses, plus Promise's antics as a younger, greener, horse.


Anyway, I attached it to her and we moseyed back to the arena to do the other direction with the blue line. For whatever reason, she wouldn't pick up the right lead, no matter how hard I tried to get her to collect, I kept having to make her switch from the left. This was clue #2 that I should have put her bridle on! I would have had more control and been able to push her into the bit (since she would have been wearing one) and, in theory, would have been able to get her to pick up the right lead. 


I will actually take the time to tack her up or use my surcingle and bridle the next time I work her.


Clue #3 that I should have put her bridle on was her inability to remember how to walk when I tried to let her air up and relax so we could try cantering again. I think we spent about 15-20 minutes working on walking to the right. Then when she relaxed, I asked her to canter and still got the wrong lead. Grr. So, we worked on walking again, and called it a day, because I was getting annoyed and knew that I shouldn't have been. I really just needed to let it go at that point and not over work her to prove a point. Plus, I'm really not worried about doing any permanent damage here, she knows her leads, and it could just be lack of work, etc. that is making her revert to the "easy" left lead.


So, we walked back to the barn and I outfitted her in her spiffy purple cooler that she rarely gets to wear anymore and we walked around the driveway until she was dry and cool. Yes, winter coats plague us in Florida, too, especially with some of the cold snaps we've had. And, although she isn't as yak-like as she got up north, she is certainly quite hairy, considering where we live. So worked up quite a sweat, being out of shape and all...and I didn't want her to catch a chill with the wind. 


When she was dry and cool, I let her have her lunch hay and brushed/show sheened/wiped with a damp cloth to get the crusty hair clean and un-crusted. Then rubbed her hind legs down with liniment since she was flexing the right hind while eating.


My farrier called me yesterday to remind me about our appointment. I had to laugh, because he tried to tell me the appointment was today at 6 p.m. And I said, I could have sworn it was on the 18th...did I write it down wrong? He goes...wait, that sounds right, let me check. Sure enough, it's the 18th at 6 p.m. Phew. Glad I'm not crazy, and I have a lot of stuff to do tonight because I am going out of town tomorrow! 


I am planning to stop by the barn and see Promise before I officially get on the road tomorrow after work. We'll see how terrible traffic is going to be by that point. If it's bad, I'll visit with her on Sunday on my way home.


ETA: I almost forgot. I finally uploaded the photos of my grandmother's Christmas present. So...here they are :)