Rachel and Grandma and an Arabian Horse After the Daffodil Show

Part 1 of Rachel and Grandma and an Arabian Horse

After Dandy had taken those three lame steps, I felt like my world had crumbled. I was so worried that something serious was wrong with the horse. Part of me thought that something serious would have shown up right away but the fear had a big hold on me. Rachel needed this horse and I needed him to be sound for her.

Before we got our stuff together to leave the show, Rachel sponged Dandy down with the Vetrolin liniment again. While she took care of that I went to see Cindi for another massage.

While I had a terrible headache and was very stiff, I thought I was doing much better than expected for such a difficult fall. Cindi wasn't as impressed with my condition. She worked again on my problem areas and gave me strict orders to get off my feet and take care of myself. I assured her I would once my horse got the care he needed.

First thing Monday morning the chiropractor returned my phone call from Saturday. While it had been frustrating to not be able to get him sooner, I was relieved that he would see Dandy at noon. At least the horse wasn't going to have to go another day without getting some help.

When Dale arrived at the barn he confirmed my suspicions about Dandy's condition. The horse had an extreme rotation in the second vertebrae in his neck (probably caused by me when I was launched off his back with the reins in my hand). He had hyper extended his shoulder*which happened when his leg slipped out from under him) and also had an extreme rotation in his pelvis with some really odd swelling. There was lots of muscle soreness and heat as well.

Dandy was to be on stall rest for the first 72 hours (normally the swelling continues for 72 hours and then begins to recede) and then he was to be long trotted each day for ten minutes with no collection involved to help stretch out the sore muscles. After the workout, he was to get the warm vetrolin liniment rinse. In addition he was to have massages as needed. The first one was scheduled for the following day. Dale would do a recheck on him in a week to determine how he was healing.

When Dale left the barn, the bewildered look was finally gone from the gelding's eyes. He remained very quiet, barely moving around his stall but the fact that look had finally left him was a relief.

The next few days went about the same. Dandy has had enough chiropractic and massage work in his life, that even when it really hurts, he understands it is helping so he tolerates the work well. But the horse was in more than the usual amount of pain and actually threatened the massage therapist a couple of times when a particularly sore spot was worked. The horse didn't ever get aggressive but the threats spoke volumes.

Despite what things looked like in the beginning by Saturday on the lunge line, the horse was getting pretty frisky. He was frustrated with not being allowed to canter and more than one time told Rachel all about it by shaking his head at her when she made him resume the trot. There was no sign of the lameness we had seen on Sunday. I suspected the it had been caused by a nerve in his croup or back being pinched. Dale thought the horse's condition was consistent with that type of manifestation.

Dale worked on Dandy again the following Tuesday. He found the horse to be in really good shape considering the injuries he had seen the week before. The chiropractor did some minor adjustments in the problem areas of his neck, shoulder and pelvis but overall the horse was doing great. Dale approved the horse going back to work. Rachel had her horse back.

I don't know if the fall impacted Rachel's fear level about riding or not. If it did, it wasn't showing. The accident did have an impact on Rachel's parents however. While the they had always know that horse back riding can be dangerous, I don't think they had considered it could happen to Rachel. Knowing how broke this Arabian gelding is, I think they had thought injury was a non-issue. Seeing me go down on the horse had opened their eyes. If someone with my skill level could have that kind of accident what risk was there for Rachel?

To be continued.....

A Setback


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