Rehabilitating the Sport Horse (PNER Convention Notes)

The following is the write-up based on notes taken by the presentation given by Sara Sammons, DVM, MS at the 2017 PNER Convention.

I know Dr. Sara Sammons from when Deli and I lived in Davis, CA (where I attended undergrad and lived for many years afterward, and where Dr. Sammons attended vet school). I actually was fortunate enough to board Deli the same place Sara had her sweet gelding, Dave. This was in the early days of my Deli ownership – about a year and a half in and just after Deli had returned from 30 days under-saddle training. It was at that barn that Deli and I could finally settle into some training and truly form our bond, which up until that point had been unreliable. I made some great friends at that barn – Sara included – and I have never boarded someplace since where I felt that sense of community. Then a vet student, Sara helped me out with the antibiotic injections Deli needed when she sustained a puncture wound to her leg and I had to leave on a trip. Deli was an absolute monster for her (she was bruised from so many injections, so its not entirely her fault) but Sara never held that against her!

I sometimes regret moving up to Oregon simply because I left behind a barn where Deli and I felt safe. At the same time – even though boarding in Oregon has often been a nightmare – I’ve made SO many new friends and have joined the awesome PNW endurance community here.

Imagine my delight when, many many years later, Dr. Sara Sammons moved into our area! Now Dr. Sammons is helping Deli with her rehabilitation for kissing spines and her related conditions. Deli is a very particular horse who can be suspicious and tense around strangers. She absolutely moves to have Sara work on her though – whether it be chiropractic adjustments or acupuncture. I’d highly recommend her for rehabilitation work, since that’s what she specializes in. I think she is particularly good for horses (like mine) who need a calm, gentle, presence. Deli is super chill when Sara works on her.

If you would like more information about Dr. Sammons and her rehabilitation business with her partner, check out her website Lavender Equine Veterinary Rehabilitation Services. They also do work on small animals (cats and dogs)!

Common sport horse injuries include:

Hoof injuries – bruise; crack; laminitis, etc.

Soft tissue injuries – muscle strains & tears; tendon & ligament strains & tears; cartilage and meniscal damage.

Bone injuries – arthritis; exostoses (popped splints fit into this category); bone bruises; fractures; cysts/developmental orthopedic conditions (these are usually not injury-related).

Why do we need these therapies? And which therapies are used for particular conditions?

Essentially, your treatments may vary widely depending on the rehabilitation needs and original problem! There are several general ways people approach rehabilitation. First, some folks turn their horse out for basic pasture rest (the “turn them out” method). This assumes you have a specific kind of herd where your horse stays quiet and won’t aggravate whatever injury they have. Basic rehab can also be done at home. This includes rehab work like hand walking, or even the exercises I’ve done with Deli during our many many rehabilitation stints. With at-home rehab it is sometimes harder to evaluate the progress. When rehabbing at a rehab facility it is usually more expensive but usually has faster healing and there are multiple modalities available to the horse (and usually professional application of those modalities). The key is that the facility is on a controlled program.

Common modalities used in rehabilitation and injury treatment:

Supportive pressure wraps – increased pressure to reduce edema formation. The warmth will also increase blood flow to the area. It also offers some degree of support for damaged tissue depending on structure of bandage. These wraps are good for use for the first week to first month of injury. You will decrease the frequency that you wrap over time to wean them off.

Cold therapy – it decreases pain and decreases blood flow to the area (which can have pro-inflammatory enzymes to the area, decreasing inflammation), decreases tissue extensibility (meaning it makes the tissue stiff). Cold therapy is something important to do right when the injury began (especially the first 24 hours). Repeat 2-4 hours for first 24-48 hours to reduce inflammation & edema, Cold therapy is only effective to a depth of 1-4cm of skin surface (so it’s really good on their lower limb). Cold therapy includes tools like: cold hosing, ice boots, gel packs, and ice water machines (game ready machines – which are expensive but also have the benefit of putting pressure/massaging the leg along with the cold therapy). 

For at-home treatments, horse owners also use ice and alcohol (50:50) ziplock baggies (a way to make your own gel packs – you can also add dish soap to make it squishier!). Application of cold therapy for 10-15 minutes is usually needed for tissue temperatures are around 50-60 degrees. After about 15 minutes, cycles of vasoconstriction & vasodilation occurs (this is the warm tingling when hands are cold long-term) that will bring more circulation to the area. Horses have vascular shunts in their lower limbs – this is how they can stand in snow without getting frost bit – but target tissues will still be chilled by the outside cold.

Heat therapy – It increases blood flow, increases metabolism (increasing activity of tissues enzymes); it relaxes muscle spasm (decreasing firing of muscle spindles, breaking any cycles of pain-spasm-pain); it also makes their tissues more extensible (stretchy). It’s important to be careful when applying heat, as you don’t want to scald or burn your horse! One suggestion for a homemade heat pack is to put uncooked rice in pillowcase and warm it up in a microwave. These are great for draping over backs.

Manual therapies (getting hands on) –

• Passive range of motion is movement within the normal confines of the joint. You must ensure support of other structures. This modality will not increase strength and endurance and it will not prevent muscle atrophy. The indications are when you are worried about contracture of a muscle or tendon; it will maintain elasticity, assists, circulation, and increases awareness of limb in space. The idea is to go to the point of tension and then stop.
• Active range of motion is where the horse is doing it themselves (often with cookies!).  The horse moves its own joints within the comfortable range. Hand walking is an example of active range of motion. Range of motion can be increased depending on the surface – for example some horses will pick their legs up more when walking over a novel surface or poles. This maintains some coordination and balance.
• Passive and active range of motion is NOT the same as stretching! If you hold the active range of motions longer you can build up supporting muscles.

Stretching

Indications for stretching are: to improve reduced range of motion (ROM); increase flexibility; lengthens tight muscles (important – opposing weak muscles will strengthen as well); to prevent dysfunction and injury. Tight muscles lad to abnormal bio-mechanics.

There are passive and active stretching. In active stretching the horse is doing it themselves. There is controversy with stretching – some folks say not to stretch more than 2 joints at a time. 

How to stretch

• Move slowly through the range of motion to point of tension-restriction (or just before)
• Hold the stretch for 15-30 seconds ideally (though you may not be able to get that from day one)
• Only stress one joint at a time (over-stretching can occur otherwise, soft tissue injury, nerve irritation)
• Repetition is important – give the horse the opportunity to stretch even further.
• Daily stretching may be too much and stretching when they are warm (after exercise) is the better way to go.

Joint mobilization – the restoration of “joint play”, safe stretch of joints, breaks down adhesions, restores normal joint mechanics (some patients cannot stretch!), decrease joint stiffness, and pain reduction. Joints and bones van get slightly out of place, and if they are re-aligned then the joint will have greater range of motion. Mobilization is a combination of rolling the joint, compression and traction. It can also move synovial fluid around and increase intra-articular nutrition.

You practitioner must be knowledgeable about equine anatomy to do this properly! Otherwise traction and rotation of a joint can be harmful. You also need to know if there are torn supporting structures in the joint – if so, you don’t want to mobilize that joint or you can cause more damage to the area.

Chiropractic – adjustment involves joint manipulations plus the additional gentle thrust at the limit of range of motion. 

Promoting Tissue Repair

Some modalities can accomplish multiple goals! These can include:

Acupuncture!

Acupuncture – you put needles in near nerves that need to be stimulated. Blood vessels dilate, blood flow increases; it can also improve lymphatic flow. Segmental analgesia provides reduced response to pain in particular areas as well as entire body. This process calms through autonomic nervous system stimulation. You can also affect organ function through acupuncture points.

Which horses benefit from acupuncture? Those with nerve deficits (EPM, head shaking, facial nerve paralysis). Those with back pain (from muscle, bone & connective tissue problems), because the acupuncture increases blood flow and calms nerves that are hyper-active in the back. Chronic colic is also assisted by acupuncture (especially spasmodic colic, gas colic).

Electrical stimulation/TENS – With this modality, you can add electrical stimulation to your acupuncture needles. It can pack a bigger punch than just needles by themselves. TENS units themselves require clipped hair to attach to the needed area, which can be awkward. this method can be very good for very superficial issues (such as superficial nerve issues). 

Therapeutic Ultrasound – this therapy not the same as the ultrasound used to diagnose injury. Therapeutic ultrasound sends pressure waves into where you point it. It helps wounds heal by increasing protein synthesis, fibroblast proliferation, etc. This therapy does not go very deep. There are different modes to the machine for heating vs. not heating. In addition, this therapy needs to be repeated routinely if you want the beneficial effects.

One of the best uses for therapeutic ultrasound is to help break up calcified structures in tendons.

Laser – How does it work? Stimulates cell function, by photochemical means (not being thermal like surgical lasers are). What does it do? Laser therapy releases endorphins, bradykinins to provide analgesia, increases metabolic rate in tissues, and improves nerve regeneration.

Disadvantages to laser therapy include: the cost is high, patient/practitioner and owner safety (class 4 lasers you definitely need goggles for to protect your eyes), inability to penetrate through hair, dark skin (only 2% on laser may get through a dark-skinned animal), and it may not penetrate to deep tissues. Skin color is actually very important for a horse so surgical shaving of the treatment area is important!

Extracorporal Shockwave Therapy – This therapy can help break down scar tissue! Essentially this modality is supersonic acoustic pressure waves cause a pressure bubble when they impact tissues.  This pressure bubble has an effect on those tissues: it causes micro-trauma which forms new blood vessels to trigger of body’s natural healing mechanisms and repair. This is great for suspensory injuries at the top of the suspensory.

Other things of note regarding shockwave therapy:

• Requires sedation – it does hurt during the therapy (and can be loud)!
• Provides analgesia to the area (which can have risk of abuse)
• Recommended 1-3 treatments at approximately 2 week interval.
• Can also help with kissing spines – especially if a horse has pain there.
• Bone pain and navicular disease.
• This treatment is effective in backs.

Restoring Function

Restoring function to the equine athlete is all about getting them back to a level of work and comfort.

Suppling exercises (circles & lateral work) and theraband/equicore use (as a strengthening mechanism) are examples of tools that can be used to help restore function. The Theraband has been a primary tool in Deli's current rehabilitation! Cavaletti exercises are also great because you are increasing range of motion and they are also proprioception exercise. Doing exercises that help the equine figure out balance, such as varying surfaces, or putting cat collars with bells/bell boots on their feet to get them to step higher can be useful.

Deli in her Theraband early on in the rehab.

Water therapy – Water therapy claims to help restore function. This is different than swimming – instead picture a horse on a treadmill in different water levels (the water level can be adjusted depending on the animal’s needs). Water therapy claims to reduce stress on limbs by reducing weight-bearing 40-60% and reducing impact on limbs. Water therapy proponents also claim that water therapy can reduce recovery time by 50-60%, that the hydrostatic pressure reduces swelling and assists with blood flow, improves conditioning and increases cardiovascular fitness (by the water providing resistance to their movement – it’s a workout!). Flexibility can also be improved by water therapy.

Underwater treadmills are the primary aquatic therapy. The water level can be easily adjusted depending on the animal’s need. The primary uses for underwater treadmills are for tendon injuries, arthritis, and conditioning after layup.

Swimming pools are used for horses as well, but swimming is not a super natural things for equines and the only real benefit to them swimming regularly are cardiovascular benefits. Horses have to move aggressively when swimming, so it’s not recommended for many injuries (especially back issues). There is also a risk drowning. And as endurance riders know, cardiovascular fitness is not the same as bone/tendon/tissue fitness!

Last time: Ultralight Packing Trips (PNER convention notes)

An update on Deli's rehabilitation for kissing spines (and the related issues)

I haven’t ridden my horse since mid-October of 2016 when she received her diagnosis.

Instead I’ve been working on serious rehabilitation exercises 3-4 times a week, along with lots of stretching and strength exercises. The idea is to build up her top-line before I sit on her again, which will help her one kissing spine (the area around the 13^th—15^th dorsal spinous process). The damage and atrophy to the multifidus muscle as it courses from one spinous process to the next is another matter.

My rehab primarily takes the form of lounging her in the theraband with some kind of equipment to keep her head down. In general I am not a fan of equipment, but she does not reliably stay long-and low on her own and running around with her head up will just exacerbate the problem. So I use a neck stretcher with the theraband wrapped in various positions around her hindquarters.

Using the theraband after a light snowfall.

 It’s a serious workout with the theraband providing resistance. After delays from a massive heel bulb abscess and unusual snowfall that kept me from working her for over a week we have worked our way up to 11 minutes each direction in the theraband (starting from one minute, which was enough to get her breathing heavily in the beginning). Soon, I should be able to hop on her to cool her off after each session.

I’ve been thinking about this issue more. I’ve also, partially by accident, noticed something interesting from looking at old photos. Deli has always had a curvy back versus a straight back (a back with “rock’). However, after she had a traumatic fall about 3-4 years ago and after the subsequent rehabilitation for that, her back became more swayed. In that fall she injured her hip, ribs, and gave herself serious nerve damage in her girth area. Time for easy rehab, acupuncture, and some cold laser brought her back sound. However, now I wonder if possibly she tweaked that area in her back (which may have already been weak due to her upright neck set) or even tore her multifidus during that accident. Any kind of injury to an already weak area could have exacerbated what was already there. Subsequently adding more and more work to condition of endurance led her to strain her lower back because she could NOT use her upper back.

Still the prettiest horse in the barn...

All the times I’ve had her scanned with infrared, adjusted, or worked on, the area of the back where she has kissing spines has never registered as a serious problem area. Now I know.

I think that area was weak (or stuck, or whatever you want to call it) because even before I got her she tended to build up lower back muscle much faster than any of her other top-line muscle. Since she was essentially semi-feral for most of her early life she could have gotten into all sorts of unknown trouble! She is definitely a horse that would have benefited from correct dressage work early on (not so early you would be riding a horse who hasn’t finished growing, of course!).

The rehabilitation will continue. I don’t know yet what kind of riding (if any) she will be up for in the future. I’ll also need another saddle for her if and when I get to that point of the rehabilitation.

Between rehabbing my poor Deli, I’ve been doing other horsey things. One highlight was the Pacific Northwest Endurance Riders (PNER) Conference, at the end of January. I got to see and hang out with a lot of my friends that I don’t always get to see, attend some interesting talks, and even make some cash by selling unneeded tack and horse blankets.

As per usual, I took notes during all the talks I attended. I plan on cleaning up these notes and posting them on this blog over the next couple months. Endurance education coming up!

Last time: the kissing spines diagnosis!

Conditioning Update (May 2016)

Deli and I have been doing... decently? Nothing has gone wrong, at least. Due to work continuing to be life-consuming my conditioning miles have been less than I'd like. I've tried a couple different saddles without finding anything better than what we have. And honestly, Deli's back feels great. This was confirmed by my chiropractor (who is also a vet).

Considering she would get sore spots on her shoulders from our custom-fitted dressage saddle (and her lower back would lock up with miles) I think we are in a good place right now. I do hope to alter the rigging of my treeless saddle, as I think that's what causing the issues I'm seeing. Can I just say that the dealer for GHOST saddles is the best customer service I've ever experienced. Just impressive!

I've even moved shims around in my Skito pad and gotten a better sweat pattern. Though she has been attacked by bees several times since the hot weather started. Have I mentioned that managing her various issues is always exciting? Ha. No.

Sweaty and bee-sting-ed.

Grass-brain is a problem here.

Milo McIver State Park. A good place to ride!

Sweat and a dusty horse = yuck.

Deli has been incredibly sassy. Though our last ride of 18 miles went fine (read: it was hot and we were all lazy), she refused to load to go home again. So this week she is getting off work but I have been reinforcing that particular skill. Much to my redhead's chagrin. She is claustrophobic and I kind of get the feeling this issue is going to rear it's ugly head every now and then.

The only other news on the horizon is: time to do something official?! If all goes well, Deli and I will be headed to our first LD together at Mt. Adams. I'm loathe to say anything because I've become increasingly superstitious over the years of mishaps and failures. There is still so much that can go wrong before this Saturday (not to mention things that could go wrong during the ride).

I am very lucky that my best friend and husband is coming to be my crew and someone to absorb my anxiety. Oh, and help me pack since I still have a full work week ahead of me.

Conditioning in March, 2016 – Ups (and Downs)

Conditioning for the 2016 season has started in earnest. The video below was from my last conditioning ride, also featuring our riding buddies Vanessa and her Arab gelding, Jinn.

In three weeks we’ve had three really successful conditioning rides trailering out to parks with good riding. I’ve been filling in the gaps with arena work (boring, but the local farm roads I will ride on later in the season are still too muddy to traverse).

Last ride I borrowed Vanessa's extra side-pull bridle for half the ride, and Deli went pretty well in it. I like that it does not twist on her face like other side-pulls we've tried.

Grazing break while Vanessa looked for a lost hoof boot in the mud.

There have been some bad points. Mostly: my Deli was an absolute nightmare getting back into my friend’s trailer after one conditioning ride at a local park. She’d been recalcitrant before, but had always gotten on (after our first ride she even hopped on with very little fuss). This time after nearly six hours in the dark and rain, my barn owner offered to rescue us. I’ve never had to be rescued in that way, and I was incredibly humiliated and frustrated. I know the weather and her fear (of a small trailer) had something to do with her behavior (hail and rain, which makes noises on the trailer roof and frightens her) but she was also just being a brat at times.

We rode in the rain, then it cleared up. Then (when we were trying to get back into the pictured trailer) it started raining again.

You know when you work so hard to make your horse a solid citizen and then you have a day where it seems like they willfully forget everything? Yeah. FacePALM.

Deli sure does not look like she's about to fight loading forever, does she?

She just seems to dislike my friend’s trailer (an older Brenderup) and this does not apply to ALL trailers. She loads without much hesitation into an old stock and everything else I’ve tried recently. Though, because I really want to ride with my new friend, this is problematic nonetheless!

Ironically the trail ride before that nightmare was AMAZING. 

Looking out at the Clackamas River.

Deli and Jinn hanging out and being polite like good ponies.

Deli waiting patiently to GET GOING.

I mentioned there was a muddy bit, right?

We have found a conditioning buddy who is, essentially, the perfect match for us. I think we riders get along great and have a lot in common. And Deli and Jinn have quickly become buddies (but without buddy-sourness). As an extra bonus, their paces are similar. Deli seems to truly enjoy these rides. She’s forward, offering to trot along on a loose rein. She really excels at tackling hills and technical footing, though we walk sloooowly for the downhill bits. She seems to recover quickly. During our last ride she drank whenever offered water.

And I'm happy to report that my horse happily leads the pack now. It helps that she isn't nervous about Jinn being behind her. It's lovely!

Our new saddle is comfortable and I just got some NEW wider panels which will hopefully spread my weight out even more. I still have plans to get some Skito foam inserts and other ways to niggle with our tack. For instance, we need to figure out a better system for attaching out trail bags, since my bags are made for an English saddle and don't exactly match my new GHOST saddle.

Deli at home after our most recent conditioning ride. She's looking good for an almost-17-year old mare!

And try not to plan too much.

Last time: PNER Convention Notes – “Beyond Conditioning” – by Robin Ryner

June 2015: Deli’s health and conditioning update.

Some signs have been alerting me to the possibility Deli has something hormonal going on – the unusual fat deposits, a change to her heats where she is even lazier than normal, and being slow(er) to shed out this spring. She could be experiencing early signs of cushings (an equine disease of the pituitary) or have something going on related to her reproductive organs. Or it could be a hormonal issue related to her metabolism (like insulin resistance or equine metabolic syndrome).  Several of these conditions are inter-related. It could also be something else entirely. She has always carried fat in certain places without a hint of metabolic issues. She does not seem to have one of the first signs of cushings: excessive thirst and urination (though she is pastured, so it’s hard to follow those things) and the pot-bellied appearance without being able to gain weight. She is shiny and has energy and her feet are in good shape – especially now that it is reliably dry.

I’ve put her on chaste-tree berry because that herb has good properties of balancing hormones and is often used for horses leaning toward cushings syndrome. I’ve also put her on a liver cleanser at my horse masseuse’s recommendation. Luckily none of these things are on the AERC banned substance list. We have also switched her and her pasture mate (who is also a fatty) to a lower-quality hay.

If I don’t see some changes within the next two months I’ll be having the vet out to test for cushings and do a metabolic/hormonal panel on Deli. Cushings in particular is an “old horse” disease and can be managed various ways. Obviously, I’d rather something less serious is going on but I’ve slowly learned to take things as they come with this horse.

Sometimes I wonder if Deli is having a sympathy-pregnancy/foal. We just had a foal born on the property and Deli is oddly interested in it when she has never given foals a second look before.  And the day after the filly was born her udder puffed up slightly. I mean, it could have also been a fly bite to her udder but… it is kind of suspicious, isn’t it?

If she does have cushings it is still in the very early stages and I have a viable plan.

 

Overall Deli has been doing really well, I think. Up until this week, where I have been sick with the flu and not riding her at all, she has been getting regular conditioning. I worry that we should be doing MORE and that I’m asking for too much at the same time. But she seems unaffected by the mileage increase in a bad way. She LOOKS more fit, she has more energy. She’s still a lazy pony in many respects (she says: I conserve energy for when it's IMPORTANT, human!), but she certainly prefers hitting the trails to anything else we could be doing. She can walk all day. If we had better footing to contend with I bet she could trot a lot of it too. The fact that the last time we went out to ride 10 miles she offered to canter up a hill shows she’s more game than ever.

Deli’s skin is doing really well too – I’ve figured out supplements that seem to help her hot-spot flare ups from insects. When she does have a flare up I have developed a system of topical applications that calm down the inflammation. This includes some of the previously mentioned creams/medicines (T-ZON, Tricare, my coconut oil concoction) and now just plain old aloe vera gel. Aloe is just another one of those things that I should have everywhere as it is absolutely essential for my OWN skin care (having red-dead skin, I burn TOO easily). It’s just another Deli-maintenance thing I needed to figure out and keep on top of!

My saddle-future is still up in the air. I AM getting a demo saddle in early July and have saddles I might be able to borrow from folks within the lovely endurance community. Still, I can’t afford to get a new saddle right now unless I am able to sell my current dressage saddle and use that money to get something new. There is still part of me flinching at the idea of making another huge investment when I don’t know if Deli is going to be able to (or want to) to the kind of miles that will make her a successful LD horse. Of course, to most endurance riders LDs are just the easy stuff. Not “real endurance” and pretty insignificant when it comes to distance riding.

It’s still a huge hurdle for Deli. And having her complete an LD in good shape is a huge hurdle for me, too.

I can see myself doing LDs easily. My fitness level is the best it has been in YEARS. I'm not saying I'm the most fit person out there, but I'm on the right path and I intend to stick with it. I am also the lightest, weight wise, that I have been since I was hit by a car and forced into a sedentary lifestyle by injuries in 2009. That feels great, too, though I am still not done with that journey either.

As long as I watch out for heat stroke and dehydration being on a horse for 6+ hours just sounds fun. (The heat stroke and dehydration is a big deal, but it’s also another management problem and not a deal-breaker.)

I am committed to going to the Bandit Springs ride with Deli in mid-July now. I haven’t yet committed to the idea of doing an LD, but it is a possibility. If something doesn’t feel quite right (or it’s in the 90s that weekend), I can opt to do another intro ride. I hear the trails are beautiful there and I don’t want to miss it either way!

My friend from the East coast riding the piggy pony in May.

I’ll have a demo saddle at the time, so I could possibly use that for the ride. I don’t know that it’s going to be a great fit though (it IS just a demo) so it will really depend on Deli’s opinion of the whole thing.

At least there is forward momentum of some kind in horse-life even when most everything else in my life is stagnant right now. Deli, as always, is a bright point. 

She may be a "cupcake" horse (a term I've heard endurance riders use to refer to their accident prone "special" horses), but she is my soul-horse. After all, I'm kind of a "cupcake" human in the same sense. 

We are probably too alike, Deli and I. 

(Except she's the looker.)

Klickitat Trek – Part 2

This post is all about our “test” of other things that pertain to going down the trail with a healthy mind and body. And my long-winded thoughts, of course.

Tack – pads, saddle, and boots (oh my)

My current tack setup seemed to work fairly well. Deli’s back felt great after the ride and stayed in good shape in the following days. There is still some backwards-forwards sliding of my saddle so I have endeavored to tighten my crupper another hole. It really needs to be tight with this saddle, but so far that doesn’t seem to bother Deli. I’ve been smoothing coconut oil her tail and working it into her tail-hair roots after rides to keep the area happy.

Deli loves my new pad – the ThinLine Endurance Sheepskin pad – that I got for my birthday. It’s sad how quickly the sheepskin gets dirty, though, and ThinLine recommends I don’t wash the pad more than 3 times in its 10 year lifespan. Yikes! I did (and continue to have) issues with the pad sliding back which I’m not sure how to fix. Perhaps sewing billet keepers onto the pad is something I should look into doing.

More like "A+"...

My saddle is still painful for me to ride the miles with, but doing more trotting at the Klickitat Intro Ride confirmed that trotting is far more comfortable for my various bits than long hours of walking. The trotting issue shouldn’t be a problem when it comes to endurance competition…

Speaking of hoof boots, her boots stayed on and worked well for the entire ride. But I was foolish and agreed with my trimmer to get a smaller size Easyboot Glove than I thought would work. I got them on, But Deli’s wide heel bulbs and heels and general made it way more of a PIA than I ever want to struggle with. I went back the Renegades I’ve been using on her hind feet on a trail ride yesterday and I think for the time being (until I can afford another set of Gloves – anyone want to buy the basically new 0.5 wides with powerstraps I was convinced to purchase?). I’ve been using the Gloves on her fronts successfully for YEARS, but have never been quite satisfied by any boot on her hind feet, which are more irregularly shaped and have that fat fetlock scar on her right-hind to contend with.

Vetting in – before and after our intro trail ride

The front of our ride card.

Dr. Foss was the ride vet who checked Deli in and out and he had some valuable comments for us. Our starting evaluation she wasn’t as forward for our trot out, which is easily explained to the somewhat rocky area to trot on and Deli freshly trimmed feet. She’s always very careful about stepping on rocks and it seemed like that was the case here. The weird weather we have been having seems to have made Deli’s soles more sensitive than usual anyway – but since I boot her for pretty much all of my trail riding and she moves out comfortably with them on, I wasn’t too worried. Once it dries out more and stops being hot AND wet, her feet will be more comfortable.

And the back of the ride card.

 I’m sure many other Western Oregon/Washington folks can agree that standing on damp soil all day long is never the best thing for horse feet. I like the rain and the cool weather, but it’s not a natural condition for our horse beasties.  

With her boots on Deli trotted off for our final vet check big and sassy. 

The A- in attitude at our vet-in is related to her not being super forward on our trot out and her fussing some for having her capillary refill checked. We have been working on THAT quite a bit at home and she is loads better. As in, he was actually ABLE to check it this time unlike the vet-in at our Grizzly Intro ride.

At our finish, I did ask the vet what he thought about her ability to do a slow LD since we were the only ones there at that time. He asked some questions about my pacing for this intro ride, how stressed she seemed, and our normal “conditioning” regime. He concluded that he thought she could do a slow LD and recommended I work a little bit to increase her cardiovascular fitness in the meantime if I was worried. As it relates to that the vet said our mostly-walking trail rides at home did seem to be getting her in decent shape muscle-wise, and her heart-rate was in a good place for having trotted into the vet check, but that some added cardio work would make an LD less tiring for her (probably).

He also commented that she was a bit chubby, but that I probably knew that. Yessier, yessir I do. Both Deli and her pasture mate are on a sort of-diet. Their hay ration was decreased and they are eating down what they have in their small grass pasture area.

Deli's favorite thing is eating...
which I hear is good for an endurance horse.

As for the “B” on gut sounds coming in, the vet said not to worry about it unless she SEEMED off. He added that many horses have “Bs” on their gut sounds coming in from the first loop – which is essentially what we were doing. My endurance mentors concurred with that statement and Deli immediately began attacking both food and water at our return to camp.

The vet also stated with respect to us TRYING an LD: you won’t know until you try.

I’ve heard that quite a few times from people that have been in this sport for a long time.

Deli’s skin issues and allergies

A couple days after the ride Deli had another flare-up of her dermatitis in her chest and between her front legs. All the classic signs: inflamed skin leading to skin peeling and sometimes-scabbiness. I treated it with my normal methods which have seemed to work so far, including skin soothing shampoo, antihistamines, and one of several various topicals I use. So far there has been no infection or hair loss, which is what I battled with all last summer. The inclusion of chamomile and spirulena into her diet have seemed to help with her recovery time, as have some other supplements like apple cider vinegar and MSM.

I do have some concern about her skin flare-ups making this sport impossible. I don’t like riding her when she’s having a flare-up (because her skin hurts, obviously), and they are unpredictable. I have started riding her when she is recovering from a flare-up without ill effect so far, which is helped by none of the typical inflamed zones interfere with tack.

The skin issue is another thing that I won’t “know until I try” whether it will keep us from competition. Oral antihistamines that have been helping the severity of the dermatitis cannot be used at an endurance ride so she couldn’t be on that medication before or during any LD. She’s not on them all the time – I just give her a round when she has a flare up.

Insect bites and activity still seem to be the root cause of flare ups, so I’ve been religious with fly spray as well. But it only does so much! This year, given our warm weather over the winter, the flies and insects are particularly bad. Bring on the barn swallows, I say!

Thoughts on our next steps…

I am a bit wary just given Deli’s history of injury and her allergies, but I think the vet and my mentors are right… I won’t know if we can do an LD until we try. And this is the first summer in a long time we have actually been able to do meaningful conditioning and rides. I evened out her one-sidedness in a big way (she still clearly has a weaker side that is weaker than what I've felt in her in the past, so this is ongoing) over the rainy months and now my focus needs to be on MILES.

The trails at my home barn are somewhat limited, but I can access a few nice trails if I suck it up and ride up a road. Apparently I have PTSD when it comes to cars and I battle anxiety when it comes to riding among traffic despite Deli being a champ around moving vehicles of all sorts.

No REAL surprise there, since a lot of my own health issues stem from being HIT by a car while riding my bike. 

The best horse ever, but I'm biased. Deli prefers grass to stupid humans.

On the third day after the Klickitat Intro ride I took Deli out to see what we could see. The beginning of the ride it poured and so we stayed off a lot of the slicker trails. We were able to find some nice access that, if I’m creative, should provide the miles we need to increase Deli’s cardiovascular fitness though steep climbs (to walk up) and a few places we can move out. We still have the problem of not having long tracks to trot on, but I’m hoping as long as we can do the miles and trot where we can, a slow LD will still not be a stretch. During this ride I also trotted her on part of the road, having padded her front boots. That actually worked out rather well.

So the very tentative plan is to take her out on long trail rides at least 2x a week and ride a faster shorter ride at least 1x a week. Given my unpredictable work (and need to take on any work I’m offered) I hope we can still manage this. I’ve decided for both our sakes that we will only ride up the road when we can plan our rides in the middle of the day. All the crazy and dangerous drivers seem to come out near commute times and that’s just too stressful for me.

I even took some short video of our 9 mile trail ride on a rainy day this past week. Deli felt good and raring to go, which was great to feel after working her harder than she has done for quite some time at Klickitat.

Here’s the video:

Yesterday, finding myself more limited on time, I opted for a shorter but much faster ride. I tried to see what kind of pace I could manage in the loops around the fields across the street from my boarding barn. We were able to keep a pace of 5.2mph over our period of 3.5 miles of “work”, allowing for a much slower combined warm-up and cool-off where we walked through the more suburban neighborhood back to the barn that totaled 1.4 miles altogether. It was a hotHOT day and Deli got quite sweaty, but she felt good and happy to move out where the footing was okay.

I’m not going to make definite plans, because if I do Deli (or me) will get hurt. That’s just the way it works in Red Mare land. (But I’m thinking we might try for our first LD in early July if everything is going well.)  

We won’t know until we try…

Last time: Klickitat Trek Intro Ride - Part 1 (wherin I talk about the trails and horse camping).