Liberty on Sunday

Sunday went to a friends to play at liberty in her round pens. Hummy finds a round pen really chlaustraphobic so it was great that at the end he was sticking to me like glue in walk and trot around the pen, changing direction and able to yo yo backwards and forwards and sideways without a halter on. We also finally got him  our liberty.

Progress 2013- Passed Level 2 Freestyle and Level 3 Online with Hummy!

Well I must appologize for abandoning this blog for so long. There has just been too much going on in my life! However, the news on Hummy is great. Through 2013 we pushed on with Hummys fitness program with dressage lessons included and by Christmas we believe we were at ground Zero again and can now push forwards. He has had no lameness issues for a year now and can cope with everything we have thrown at him. I still do a daily leg check.... it has become habit just in case! But all is well. He does have limitations with the reduced movement in his right hock, he still struggles with balance in his right canter and picking up that lead but we are getting there. Last summer we did the Level 4 pathways program with him with Lyla Cansfield and the game of contact courses alongside the dressage lessons and improved his freestyle and finness. We were awarded a 2++ in his L2 freestyle audition and passed our L3 Online audition with a 3+. Our L3 Freestyle is submitted but we need to resubmit his lead changes with fewer steps. We have worked extremely hard on lead changes and freestyle with out a bridle. He can now mostly pick up the right lead when he is on a surface but still struggles out in the field on uneven ground. He lacks a bit of confidence that he will remain upright with me on him on this lead in the field. It doesnt help that since Christmas I have had some issues with painful hips so I am stiff! I now have a new job  and am buying a new house so Hummy has not had much time put in since February. Hubby has also gone so things lately have been rather erratic but I am getting there and Hummy will get fit again once our new routine settles and the boys settle into their new field.  Riding bridleless has been a great challenge for me I have posted some clips on Youtube and I am looking forwards to  a new life.
Enjoy Hummys  Progress
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izmTUgFoCok

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tAI-EE_AjE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8UgM4B0ar4

Thats it for now we are off to go play Liberty this afternoon

Passed my L2 online with Hummy's brother

Finally made the descision to push on with my parelli journey borrowing my daughters horse Hero who is Hummy's brother. Have been playing with him when I can since we got him but it isnt really enough for me.
Eventually got round to filming my L2 online in April this year and we are ready for out freestyle when my injured hand has healed enough for me to bend my fingers!
Here is our L2 online.

http://youtu.be/IEHj3oUE_fo

Hummy's Recouperation Programme

Unable to lock Hummy up away from the other horses (no room in the barn during lambing and calving) the next best option for him is to start him on a ridden excercise programme to try and harden up the leg and increase the blood flow to the ligament with gentle sustained excercise in straight lines. Basically a programme of walking for increasing periods for about 3 weeks and see how he copes. If he is ok then to increase further and introduce a little trot work still all in straight lines. This will take a long time up to a year (he has already been off for nearly a year!) but I should be able to introduce work on line so long as it isn't small circles and turns etc. If he does't cope we will have to find some way to lock him up for 3 months and do the shockwave treatment.

Day one: saddled up halter on checked yields and rope arounds mounted half way. Hummy seemed fine so mounted properly. checked yields again and direct and indirect turns carfully and slowly he seemed fine just a bit impatient to go so we went. He was a real gentleman! A little unconfident in himself , would rather follow the others than lead but happy with me up top. There was heat in the ligament when we were done with ten mins road walk but I think that is the point the excercise increases blood flow which will create heat but aid healing. It was fine and not filled next day. He was really affectionate after.
Day 2: Saddled up another ten mins walk better than day one, more confident. Ligament the same.
Day 3: I can't beleive this horse he is so light I think stop he stops before i pick up the reins, iI think back up pand it is done! He hasn't been ridden for a year!.... Much straighter than yesterday and confidence back he was happy to stride out in the lead today. Again heat at the end of the ride but no filling later or the next day so things seem to be going as planned. Hummy is enjoying going out on rides again and is there waiting to be saddled up. I love that horse sooo much!

Some of my Artwork

Progress with Hummy's injury.

Hummy had his xrays and MRI scans today there was good news and bad. His R hock injury is healing well and he doesn' t currently need further treatment on it so long as it continues as is. Even though todays xrays showed a small fracture there, the joint and fracture is fusing as expected he has good movement there and we have reversed the bone loss he was showing 6 months ago. He is still getting mild pain on this leg though. However, the MRI scans showed that the tweak he gave the left suspensory ligament ten days ago was serious and the damage far worse than when it was scanned 6 months ago. So prognosis for full recovery still not good. Vet is now recommending that we lock him up with a companion away from the others. ie in the cattle barns with LS for 3 months and give him intensive shock wave theropy for 2 weeks to try and speed up the healing process. The way the vet explained it, the inflamed ligament is boxed in between bone and tendons and the swelling causes pressure as it has nowhere to go, this reduces blood flow and hence reduces/slows the healing process. The shock wave treatment stirs everything up again which increases blood flow to promote healing but he has to be kept quiet and relatively imobile for it to work. This is his best chance of ever being able to do any kind of collection/finess/dressage in the distant future. Got to speak to the vet again tomorrow, he is getting another opinion on the scans/xrays again to make sure his prognosis is the best we can do. He is not in favour of operating on the ligament as over the last 8 years they have had a better % of successes of horses remaining sound and working again without the opp but with a much longer recuperation period.

Hummy's Injury/recouperation

Hummy came up lame on his left hind originally with a little filling at the fetlock and a slight lump on the S ligament. He was confined but within a week he hd further injured himself by getting cast under the gate! Grr he had ripped up his front legs lots of skin missing and swelling but all treatable without a vet. However he was also now lame on the R hind. Vet called rather inconclusive diagnosis but settled on either ligament or tendon damage and we would have to confine him in a smaller area and treat for the above. At hgue expense we now have a lovely field shelter/ 2 stables and a very small paddock we can fence off. This was Hummys confinement for the next 5 months. He hated, it and we had enormous problems keeping him from rearing and spinning and all the things he wasn't supposed to be doing. I kept him on calmers etc, legs in support bandages and was hand grazing him daily, tried lazer treatment on both ligaments since the right one had come up as well. However, the L ligament was still going up and down depending on how active he was. Time for a second oppinion and further investigation. He went in for a full leg work up, resulting in the right hock being xrayed and both ligaments scanned. He had damaged both ligaments, although the right one was well on the way to being healed but more serious he had damaged the right hock joint with a compression injury. There had never been any heat or swelling in the hock! He had lost a lot of cartilage between the joints of the bones which was causing him pain and was in danger of fracturing the bones. Not a good prognosis and I was left not knowing if I would ever have a rideable horse back at the end or just a paddock ornament. David the vet was fantastic and said he would get a second opinion on the prognosis and possible treatments. The best prognosis being that the bones would eventually fuse so we would lose some mobility in the joint but he may be able to be ridden. The outcome was that we should inject the joints with Tildren and something else that would slow the cartilage growth, kill the nerve endings to stop the pain and help speed up bone fusion.

the diag show arrows where the joint was injected and the shaded bits are where the cartilage was damaged.
Hummy was turned out into the main paddock to rest and be a horse again (much better for his mind) and he actually is resting much more than he was in confinement. The left ligament is healing now that he is no lnger favouring the right hock. We are now waiting for him to be exrayed again at the end of January to see what progress has been made. In the meantime I am limited to just checking out his yields in walk and hand grazing him whilst the others get worked to prevent him from belting around the field when he is left behind. His attitude has gone through a huge adjustment and he just has to bite and chew on everything and everyone, he is so bored. The grazing out helps him but at the moment everything is about food. I want my old Hummy back!