He knows how excited I am to move to W's next week, but we'll both miss being at T's place. So we took the dog with us, and Me, Moon, Halo and BF went on a trail ride. Technically, the BF and Halo ran, while I rode Moon.
It was pretty neat. Moon REFUSED to pass the BF, and kept perfect pace with him. Which was great because instead of thinking about half halts and slowing him down, I could concentrate on my own position. We DID have one little argument after galloping for a bit, but I like to believe we're making headway in the softening and accepting contact.
We rode for about 5 km's, which is technically a lot for the BF to run (imo...since I'm a terrible runner!). He was feeling great on the other hand, and maybe even a little dissapointed that we didn't go faster. : P He wants me to point out as well, that he beat everyone back home. : P Oye. Moon's excuse was that he needed to cool out on the way home ; )
The BF's job requires him to use a lot of really neat equipment, and last week he was in training to use an infared camera. Those heat-detecting ones. I asked if he'd take a look at Moon after a ride to check for saddle fit. And after our ride, I realized this would be an excellent tool to check for heat in any joints!! I've been worrying quietly about his 'squishy lump' on his LH, and this was a great way to see if there's any heat (since feeling for it can lie).
His limbs all looked great. They were cool, and uniform in color (ie. uniform in temperature). The only thing that was different was his coronet bands, which on every foot, were slightly hotter. Hmmm...is this normal or bad?
...after looking it up online, apparently that increased heat in the coronet bands (but restricted to that area) is a sign of a healthy barefoot hoof after exercise! (see HERE for some explanations and images). Too cool! : ) And I worry so much!
Unfortunately we don't have the gear to download the pics, so I've nothing from today to show you. But trust me, it was interesting stuff.
We also pulled off his saddle and had a look at fit. I expected him to have cold spots in the middle of his back from bridging...but there wasn't any! He had appropriately cool places over his withers and along his spine. The ONLY cold spots that shouldn't have been, were too strips along the back of the saddle padding. I would imagine, this likely means the panels in my saddle are angled too much for Moon's back? That or I need a bit of a lift back pad because the back of the saddle panels aren't making contacting completely with his back.
(all pics were stolen off google image search, just to illustrate)
Hmmm...interesting!
Good to know though that we don't have bridging!
Now I'm off to bed, 'cause riding ponies makes me tired! : )
Those pictures are really cool! Should be standard equipment for vets, don't you think??
ReplyDeleteWolfie, I would totally agree except the BF told me it cost over $30k just for the camera! While that's probably cheap compared to an ultra sound machine, I have a feeling we'd still get hosed on the vet-rate!
ReplyDeleteI HAVE seen some saddle fitters are now using them, which I think is AWESOME. I actually think that's the PERFECT horse application and REALLY hope he can borrow it again with the new saddle! : ) If you can find a saddler with one at a reasonable price, I'd promote getting it done!