Therapy Riding

Heidi came by for a therapy session where she worked on mounting and dismounting. Eddy was a good boy standing still for her.

Carrie has thrown herself into her new therapy role. She demonstrated exercises while Micha filmed.

Heidi and Eddy were both worn out after an hour!

Unfortunately, Heidi's knee has been causing her pain and she's temporarily stopped riding. She's visits us for fun therapy now. Micha and Heidi brought their dog on the last trip!

Loki was thrilled.

There were butts to sniff.

Micha went for a walk with his boy and Loki tagged along! They were halfway across the property before I noticed Loki was gone.

Heidi's not the only one who's in therapy right now. Ernie's been getting regular vet appointments.

He's had ongoing degenerative lameness. A temporary nerve block had him moving like a different animal altogether.

"That's my horse!" Laura said.

One potential procedure would be de-nerving. The vets snip the nerve that goes into the hoof. It's permanent.

The upside is the horse feels no pain anymore.

The downside is the horse feels no pain anymore.

We would need to be checking Ernie's feet daily to make sure he didn't step on something that could cause lasting damage.

Laura didn't decide to do the de-nerving, but Carrie thinks it may need to happen one day. For now, Ernie needed shots to help with some of his issues and the vets recommended bar shoes for more support.

Ernie's an older horse, so none of these issues are going away. It's more about how to make him the most comfortable for the most time and get him to where he can be ridden safely. 

Laura came to us in time to reduce her boarding and hay costs and to replace them with vet costs. Carrie lets her ride Sam since Ernie is still out of commission as a perk of being here, but Laura is hoping to get back to riding Ernie again.