Lippizan or Quarter Horse?

Wow...today I thought Maddy was a Lipizzaner. I took her for her first "walk" in the arena after 4 months of stall rest. She walked in calmly. I let her sniff around for a couple minutes. Lots of pets, lots of hind quarter yielding and I let her look out the windows. I pointed to ask her to walk to the left and she went straight up into the air and hopped on her back legs. A perfect "courbette." Then she went straight up, a giant leap and then kicked back, a "capriole" to rival those of the Lipizzaner's. It was quite a show, but not one I wanted. I immediately went into task manager mode, getting her to back and come forward, put her in a couple binds, made her drop her head A LOT. She settled down, but of course I worry those hops could have hurt her fracture. The footing is deep hogsfuel and she has a bar shoe with clips, so hopefully no damage was done. Her adrenaline is so far up. I am thinking I may have to give her a little Ace to keep the edge off for her own safety. I sat with her in her stall for awhile afterwards to see if she remained calm or was agitated after being in the arena. She was content to eat and did lots of snorting. I shed a couple of tears as I watched her. Worry and stress got the best of me. Every day has been a learning experience with her. Such extremes...my greatest pain, my greatest joy.

Another X-ray

The close of 2007 brings an end to Maddy's stall rest....or so I thought:-) Today I had the vet out to take an x-ray and see where we are at. The picture is Maddy a little drowsy from the sedative, but still looking for food. I used a different vet, because Mark Revenaugh doesn't go mobile and I didn't want to bother my friends with trailers to help get her over there again. Barb Crabbe is the vet for the barn and had gone over Maddy's films last week. She did the x-ray and it looks great. There is a slight shade of black at the very edge, which she says could be fiberous tissue that will always look that way, or it is still the fracture healing. To be on the safe side, I am supposed to go two more months on stall rest, but I can start walking her in the arena and start getting her mind active again. I am thrilled. I know it isn't perfect, but I saw a HUGE change in the fracture and it looks great. I have things I have been neglecting to do with her while on she has been on rest, so now I will get back to work. I had focused a lot of energy on riding and working with Queenie, the draft-cross. I really need to find a balance between the two. In a perfect world, I wanted a complete heal and the green light to start up again, but this is the next best thing. It really is a great way to bring in the New Year. I am full of hope and am optimistic about where we will be in 2008.