Trial and error

Individual turnout was a total FAIL! While he seemed to be okay in the beginning, after a few days he went crazy. Barn manager thinks the mares on one side of his paddock were feeding his (already inflated) ego. He didn't have the large amount of space to torture his buds all day run and frolic, and I'm pretty sure he spent a week standing around. Then we had two days of ice/snow/hail, and he spent them inside. THEN my trainer went to go work with him which led to this:

He looks horrible, stiff, and miserable here. My first thought was oh my god, call the vet, inject everything. But, my trainer, ever the voice of reason tried to work him through it. After about 30min on the lunge he did settle, although all of his gaits still looked very stiff, especially through his hind end. She hopped on him after he settled down, trotted off, switching directions often. He was stiff and crooked. After about 15 minutes he did drop his nose and stretch a bit.

Me and trainer decided to keep him working throughout the week and hopefully loosen up those muscles. We are hoping his stiffness is due to standing in the individual, the insanely cold weather, and being in his stall for two days. We also cut his grain a bit, as he's looking a little plump ( and acting a little high). She rode him Sunday (he was great), I rode him Monday (he was great and so quiet and well behaved), she rode him Tuesday (he did buck when she pushed him into a bigger trot, but mostly well behaved). Today he had off-- it was 8 degrees today. Tomorrow and Friday she is riding, and then I have a lesson on Saturday.

On Saturday I am also have a chiropractor out for an adjustment and laser therapy. I have been kind of meh about chiropractors lately, but I am willing to try again before calling the vet to suggest injections (stifles? SI's again? hocks?). Another horse at my barn recently had chiro and laser therapy from this guy and she literally moves like a different horse. If the bucking and general bad attitude don't go away soon then I'll absolutely be calling the vet AGAIN to discuss what could be going on. It's been so frikken cold here lately, even in the indoor, and I'm sure Finn is not enjoying it at all. At the same time I want him to move to keep his joints loose, even if he's not working hard.

Pony love