Still Weak In the Hocks...

Went out and visited my horse today. Crappy day I must say. Started raining really hard about 10 minutes after I got to the barn! So tired of this weather, Bring on the sunshine! Well decided to work on ground work today instead of ride. She's really getting better at trotting instead of pacing when I ask her too. However, I had her trotting and can tell her right hock is still weak. Just have to keep working at it. She'll get right into it (most of the time, she still tries to sneak in a pace) and be fine for a circle or two, then she'll start exaggerating the trot and I can tell by her head placement and expressions that it's uncomfortable. So I bring her down to a walk and let her relax for awhile and start it up again. The vet told me her hocks are going to be weak because of her being on rest basically the entire winter from getting kicked and then finding out her arthritis problem in the same leg! It's her ankle that has the arthritis. Xrays showed her to have very thin cartilage in her right ankle. They injected her with HA (hyalauronic acid) which helped a bunch. I also put her on liquid joint supplement that has HA in it (cortiflex HA).

I also did some other ground work. Have been implementing the parelli lessons I see on RFD TV. They really help with communication. I really wish I would have gotten into it 8 years ago when I bought her! I can't count how many times I just couldn't communicate with her what I wanted her to do and it was so frustrating! Now I have been using the parelli stuff and it just seems so easy. I can get her to do some things withing a few days. We're working on the side passing lessons, yo-yo game, circling game, friendly game, and started to teach her how to bow. Think that's going to need a few more bags of carrots though! I think throughout the years of owning my first horse I've learned to be more patient and know that it's never the horses fault. I've always heard that and known it, but never really understood it. I'm really realizing that it's all in the way I communicate with her. She's very personal with people and has no problem doing what you ask as long as she understands whats being asked. Always something to learn when it comes to horses!