For the past few weeks, I've been fretting about Estes' club foot. She's been awfully stiff and sore and not wanting to do a whole heap - she just wasn't feeling well. I assumed that she was stiff and sore because I've got her barefoot and I thought that she was just tender-footed, so I called the ferrier to come fix my baby. Well, the ferrier didn't call back, and didn't call back, so I had my dear friend Kai (who besides being my boss is also a certified Equine Sports Massage Therapist) come up to the lodge and work on Estes on Sunday.
What a huge difference! Estes had been gimping around, getting depressed, going off her feed and in general was just blah! After Kai spend some time massaging her, which Estes LOVED, and showing me some stretches, it was obvious that she already felt better. Her whole demeanor changed - and so does mine after a massage. Why didn't I think of this before?
I talked to my mom on Monday and she said that Estes was moving without any limp and that she thought maybe we'd been way off base in assuming that her club foot was causing all of her problems. Seriously, I thought my mom was nuts, but I went up for a ride yesterday anyway.
What a huge difference! My Estes, the one I fell in love with, the one who is a royal pain in the ass at times, is back!!! I believe Mom now - I don't think it was her foot at all, but the long trailer ride we had to get to Salida, which is when we first noticed her gimping around and it just gradually got worse. It was easy to assume that it was her club foot because that's her only physical problem and that's the side that tightened up and she was gimping on.
It was good for both of us to go out for a short ride on the mountain and not worry about how her foot and shoulder were feeling. She's a totally different horse, and all it took was a little massage and stretching.
Kai - you're a Rock Star!!! I can't thank you enough for giving me my horse back!
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