 |
RE: [RC] Judgement Call - heidi
Mike, you need to add one more "lesson" here.... Damage is
cumulative, until there is sufficient time off for healing to occur. You can't simply point to any one "episode" (at least most of the time) and say with certainty, "THAT episode caused THIS swelling."
You say she didn't "feel" off but was dipping her head--if she was
dipping her head, she was off, whether you could feel it or not, and the "not feeling it" liikely had more to do with your inability to sense it than with the degree to which she showed it. Some dressage lessons might help to get you more in tune with your horse's movement so that you CAN begin to "feel" subtle differences. You should be able to "feel" an offness long before she starts to bob her head!
Additionally, even though she "seemed" fine after that, rest assured
that she wasn't. She was most likely compensating to some degree the whole rest of the day. Your response to such an incident should be either 1) to pull, or 2) (if she seemed fine) to do the whole rest of the ride at a slower pace so that you don't reaggravate whatever it was. And after that (whichever choice you made at the ride), give her time off to fully heal. Just because she "looks" fine or "feels" fine on a short training ride does not mean that she is healed.
Heidi
|