They won't let me climb the hill to try to catch my horse any more. Of course because he had an appointment he completely ignored the grain bucket today. Heh. But...
Solomon finally got his back done today!
Haha, look at that face! Oh and it gets better.
There were a couple of times when he really wasn't sure about it, but he always ended up relaxing into it big time and signing. He stretched and yawned a lot, and she got him to really loosen up and relax. She popped a bunch of stuff back into place. She showed me where his vertebrae were out of place, and you could really tell. She showed me how his hips were crooked even when squared him, how his lower back was all kinds of locked up and how he wasn't engaging his hind end.
He really liked her. Her name is Sandi Neal, and you can reach her through here:
http://www.northernoaksequine.com/page2.html
She told me that his pelvis was very high on the left, he was locked through his croup and his spine being out of whack was probably why he had a roach back and his back was a little hollow. She said he wasn't actually swaybacked, just underdeveloped on his topline because he hasn't been moving properly.
The c-1, c-4, and c-5 in his neck were out of place. She had me feel it, and showed me where his muscle was overdeveloped and underdeveloped to compensate. She also felt a lump in his neck and said to watch it, that it might be really overdeveloped muscle but to make sure it doesn't change a bunch, especially make sure it doesn't get bigger, since greys are prone to tumors.
She said the t-15, t-16 and t-17 were would of place as well. He was stiff in both hips, his left stifle, and both front fetlocks.
He really enjoyed the work for the most part. Wow his hips getting popped looked crazy! But he seemed really relieved afterward. At one point she was doing some sort of skritchy massage that he really liked. He started scraping his teeth on my head, aaa! She told me that it was a mutual grooming thing, but to not let him do that, haha!
Haha, I wish this had been in focus. LOOKIT MAH TEEFS!
You can't really tell from this picture, but after all the work she did on him, he was moving both his legs under him WAY better, moving his front legs better, you could see how much more he was using his hips and back muscles, how his head was lower (though he was sniffing around a bit here, heh) and how his eye was softer.
We also got the saddle on him, and she showed me how it was not actually his lower back that was being bothered so much, though the scar tissue from that wound was quite evident and it may have been irritated- actually the saddle was pressing on his scapula, and having someone sit on it certainly would hurt a lot. She showed me how to feel for it, and sure enough it was pressing more on that spot. So the saddle most certainly has to go- she said no amount of re-stuffing it or pads would fix that. I figured I'd have to get rid of the saddle, now I know for sure.
Anyway, she showed me some stretches to have him do for now on, but especially for the next seven days. Hmm, I will be gone on Sunday. Maybe I can get someone to do them with him. It's pretty simple and doesn't take long, though he really doesn't like reaching between his legs, haha. He pawed at the ground a little, but the lure of a carrot got him to do it- she calls them carrot stretches, and you just hold a carrot next to his stifle to get him to stretch for it, and then you hold one back between his legs. He, of course, being Solomon, will try to find ways to cheat. I'll get him to do it though! Treats are an awesome motivator for him.
When I let him loose and got him to wander off (he didn't want to at first, heh!) he ran the entire fenceline and then went and chased the other horses away from HIS filly, so I think he was feeling pretty good!
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