Body Work

On Sunday, I participated in a dress rehearsal for the upcoming show. We get to ride in front of a L judge and one of the WE trainers, with feedback and direction to help improve our tests. I went because Ashke needs all of the exposure he can get and it's great feedback on both the dressage test and the EOH course. Other than the bend issue, he did great during our rides. I feel very confident about the show next weekend.

It was pretty obvious that Ashke was struggling to bend. My friend, CS, said she could feel where his neck was out and he seemed a little sore. We had the chiro scheduled to come in on Tuesday evening, so I knew he would be adjusted before our show. Dr K came out to the new barn at 8:30 pm last night and Ashke was the last to be looked at.

Before I had her work on him, I showed her the video from the schooling show at PVF. She watched the incident several times and determined that his SI had shifted at that moment. The why is much harder to determine: it could have been the intermittent work (warm up and then wait for the ride) or not enough warm up or a slip of his foot in the arena. (It felt like a slip, but it is impossible to really determine from the video.) Whatever happened was then complicated by the 9 hours of trailering, the small stall, the up and down nature of our trail ride at Fort Robinson, and the move. He has been through a lot in a short time.

He was way out. This was not a surprise.

She adjusted his SI, his thoracic region, lumbar and caudal vertebrae. He was also tight in the right hip. He was not happy about the adjustment to his right hip, his SI or the ribs along his right side. He kicked out a couple of times. Dr K was much happier with how easily he went back into place.

He was also out in his neck. She adjusted him there and then went over the rest of his body. 

She then placed a bunch of needles in his lumbar and SI region, which he really protested, until I reminded her that she needed to start in the front and place them moving toward his tail.

He gets the next two days off. A bath on Friday and the show over the weekend. We have another appointment scheduled for the 12th since I have the show. Dr K wants to make sure that he stays in place. I will also call her next time he has that type of slip during a ride.