Old Lady Joints

When it got cold last fall, I noticed Phantom was looking a little creakier. She's had arthritis in her hocks for a while and generally gets hock injections every 12-15 months. She could have used them last fall, but since I knew I wasn't going to be riding through November and December, and then it was too stupidly cold to ride through January and all of February, I kind of just put them off. Well, there was also that whole needing to breathe thing too - I figured that breathing was more important than stiff joints.

She actually looked quite good all summer. But last week Mother Nature decided to give us another kick in the crotch through the summer that never was and the temperatures plummeted last weekend. It was the middle of August, and I was wearing a merino wool long-sleeved shirt with a light jacket over top to ride.

Apparently Phantom felt the difference in temperatures. She turned into the old lady with the gammy knee. I had two rides where she warmed up really slowly and didn't feel very comfortable. I decided it was time to get her some hock juice.

Road trip! Waiting at the vet clinic to unload because the vet was late (of course!).

On Thursday I hauled her over to the vet clinic to get her hocks injected. Most of the time there was spent cleaning her hocks - apparently, they were really dirty. I looked at them the night before to see if I should clean her legs to reduce the scrubbing time and thought they didn't look too bad. Oops.

When I returned to the barn, I grabbed Cisco. Since the trailer was hooked up, he needed to go for a car ride.

Where are we??

The plan was to unload Phantom, put Cisco on, put Phantom back on, then go for a short drive. Since Cisco loaded so well last time (with Phantom already on) I hoped he would be okay about going on by himself.

He wasn't.

I managed to get him on a few times, but he did the fly backwards right away thing. Then he got the donkey look on his face. I had zero patience at this point in the day, and though I would have loved to spend an hour working on it, I didn't have it in me.

So I grabbed Phantom and put her on. Only she figured she was done for the day and didn't want to get back on. Grrrr.

Needs extra sedation to do anything with her but then she just wants to sleep it off. 

Eventually, I got her on and secured. Then a longer eventually later, I got Cisco on and secured. We went for an easy drive around the block (10-15 minutes max) and parked at the barn. They were both content to stand in the trailer so they got their grain in there before unloading.

Such a drunk pony. Good thing I was the designated driver!

I hadn't taken Cisco's fly sheet off for the drive so I didn't see how sweaty he got. But I saw sweat drips on his leg, so I have a pretty good idea. He still needs a lot more miles before he's going to be comfortable going for a drive.

Phantom gets a few days off with bute then can start to get ridden again on Monday. I'm hoping to take her on a field trip next week, so fingers crossed she's ready by then!