Sunday, July 18, 2010

Horse Butt Crunch

Splash update - Several weeks of supplements and anti-inflammatory and Splash was still off on the right hind end.  So, before we head to Oakridge for serious medical investigations, we tried chiropractic adjustment.

Patty recommended Dr. Jim Ennis from Arkansas and I go an appointment Friday afternoon July 9th.  My truck blew the big belt on Friday morning so wonderful Sherry took us over to Prairie Lane to meet the Doctor.  I gave Dr. Ennis the history and details of his injury in early May and Dr. E started to evaluate starting at the poll. 

Flexibility seemed good until the right shoulder and the Doc adjusted.  Then along the spine was fine until the left hip.  The right side was better and Dr. E finished the adjustment with the Horse Butt Crunch. 

HBC - Take 2 coins, press hard on both sides of the tail head and push up toward the loin.  The result is that the horse will rotate the pelvis and stretch the "lower" back.  The prescription is to apply the Horse Butt Crunch daily and when grooming to ride.  Also, no lounging; work on straight lines rather than circles.  Mostly walking with short trot segments. 

So, immediately after the adjustment, we rode a bit and Splash seemed better.  Our arena was to soggy from all the rain - so no ride on Sat.  I rode a little on Sunday afternoon before I headed off to Kansas for the week. 

Stay tuned to see if this treatment helps - I will get another appointment in early August as a follow-up.

In other news...  After the rainy week following the 4th of July, our hay guy got cutting when the weather looked clear for a good 4/5 day stretch.  Steve and Kale got the first truck load Wed evening and planned to pickup a load Thurs morning and the get the bulk of our hay Thursday evening after dinner.  As the grill was ready for cooking, a huge storm blew in and Steve, Kale and Alex scrambled to get the hay in time.  The hay was on both trucks and the trailer as the rain started and the crew covered with tarps and backed a truck into the barn as the sky opened and the deluge began.  So, Friday the tarps came off and the hay dried mostly.  Then, the vortex caused by hay almost dry enough to stack in the barn, another storm blew in and the tarps came out again.   Sat. and Sun. were dry and most of the hay is now in the barn, but about 30 bales are still wet and out in the sun to try to save them. 

The 4-H show on Sat. was the fastest show on record.  The kids were excused from hot show cloths and got to show in T-shirts and jeans.  Classes ran so fast, we were done by 1pm and I got to go to lunch after dropping horses and kids by the house.  We did start early and the judge skipped rail work at every opportunity.  Wish they were all like that.  Ivy won the hunter hack class and beat Alaina in western classes when Sunny dropped gait - Alaina beat Ivy in the English classes since freako-Pico was afraid of the new BIG RED tank at the end of the arena.  They had a good time and really liked the casual show attire and Alaina won reserve high point for 9-11.

With rain Thurs/Friday, the arena was soaked.  Finally got a chance to check on Splash this evening.  So, wiped sweat off to saddle and applied the HBC and worked a bit.  I really couldn't tell how he was since the arena is to short and uneven to really try to trot straight.  So, we will cross fingers for improvement on Sat. at the next party lesson.

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