Just a quick update...
I rode Brego tonight. We did a little dressage work, mostly just forward trotting while asking him to stretch. We worked on bending at the walk. He seemed his usual "I've been out of work for three days" resistant but not sore or otherwise broken. His legs were tight and clean.
I, however, am a wreck. Sharp pain from my hip to my shoulder on the left side. I was most irritated. The rest of the soreness is gone, so I am hoping this is just some deep bruising. I fully intend to ride the rest of the week because I am close to figuring out my jumping form. More on that later.
Sometime last week, I discovered several hard little nodules in Brego's skin. There was no hair loss but they were clustered exclusively under his saddle pad. I remembered in the farthest reaches of my addled brain when my Thoroughbred mare had these and they were caused by worms. Ew.
It's very wormy right now. The grass is nearly all gone and the horses are scrounging around in the dirt for food. There's about ten horses on five acres and the pasture is not picked, so it does tend to be conducive to worms.
Our usual worming cycle is every two months and I rotate with Quest gel, Equimax, and Anthelcide EQ. I give a Panacur power pack in the spring. Although I had wormed about 4 weeks ago, I went ahead and gave Brego a double shot of Equimax and in two days, the nodules are noticeably smaller or absent. I will double Equimax him again when he moves to our new farm in about a month. Then we'll go back to the regular rotation.
And for all of you who made it though my very boring discussion of worming protocol, I will treat you with another cool picture from the hunt last weekend.
Posts
