The good news:
On Friday, Dr. Bob got to give me a happy report. He did not see anything concerning stifle-wise with Echo, no signs of injury. What I saw/felt was due to loss of condition from a month off on a leggy young horse. Prescription: "Ride lots to rebuild strength."
Huge sigh of relief from me. And that is my favourite prescription.
The better news:
We've been working for months on easing Echo's sacrum back to level. A lot of months (like, here's the update from May). It's not something you can, or more accurately, should, do in one big pop. If you try that, it will just pop right back out again thanks to sore, tight muscles who are loath to give up a habit. Which is why it's also important to incorporate muscle work in your chiropractic regimen.
His last adjustment was in late August & we did finally nudge it the last little bit back to level then. Both Dr. Bob & I held our breath & he suspected it may try to sneak back out again. I continued my focused SoreNoMore massage on the hip knots I've come to know well & kept staring obsessively at it.
Under saddle, I pleasantly discovered continuing improvements in Echo's right lead canter - he could now keep the lead on a slight downhill turn without swapping behind or using a half-buck to unload the weaker leg. Standing behind him, I could see his HQ muscling becoming more even. I hoped, but cautiously.
After more breath-holding on Friday as Dr. Bob professionally poked that sacrum, he announced IT STAYED! Yes, I realize Echo probably heard me type that & is hard at work to undo it, but I'm still taking the win! Dr. Bob also said he wanted to hire me out for muscle work -- I told him that I doubt I'd get many clients who were interested in having their horses massaged for 15 minutes at a time when my arms get tired, as it'd take me a month to do an entire horse.
We're long overdue for some good luck, so I'm going to enjoy a nice long exhale for now.
On Friday, Dr. Bob got to give me a happy report. He did not see anything concerning stifle-wise with Echo, no signs of injury. What I saw/felt was due to loss of condition from a month off on a leggy young horse. Prescription: "Ride lots to rebuild strength."
Huge sigh of relief from me. And that is my favourite prescription.
The better news:
We've been working for months on easing Echo's sacrum back to level. A lot of months (like, here's the update from May). It's not something you can, or more accurately, should, do in one big pop. If you try that, it will just pop right back out again thanks to sore, tight muscles who are loath to give up a habit. Which is why it's also important to incorporate muscle work in your chiropractic regimen.
His last adjustment was in late August & we did finally nudge it the last little bit back to level then. Both Dr. Bob & I held our breath & he suspected it may try to sneak back out again. I continued my focused SoreNoMore massage on the hip knots I've come to know well & kept staring obsessively at it.
You can see the last remaining bump on the left in early Aug |
After more breath-holding on Friday as Dr. Bob professionally poked that sacrum, he announced IT STAYED! Yes, I realize Echo probably heard me type that & is hard at work to undo it, but I'm still taking the win! Dr. Bob also said he wanted to hire me out for muscle work -- I told him that I doubt I'd get many clients who were interested in having their horses massaged for 15 minutes at a time when my arms get tired, as it'd take me a month to do an entire horse.
We're long overdue for some good luck, so I'm going to enjoy a nice long exhale for now.