Whew!

I know, it's been quite awhile since an update. It's been pretty hard to muster up the energy to do homework after a full day of school and barn, let alone post!

All is well in Pandora-land. The head-fussing nonsense is almost completely gone at all three gaits, which pleases me very much.

She had a vet checkup yesterday --- kind of the vet-check-we-didn't-get-before-we-bought-her. I'm happy to say that she passed with flying colors!

All vitals normal (HR 28 RR 10 GI normal). "Excellent feet. No abnormalities of limbs noted." (Except a small old splint on her left hind, which she said could be years old and neither bothers her nor will bother her). "Moves stiff on RH in round pen - not lame, just stiff." She also said that she thinks the stiffness would probably go away with more fitness across her back and butt muscles, especially since the stiffness goes almost all the way away after warming up.

Negative flexions (woohoo!). Very good thing.

Has had recent, good quality dentistry.

She recommended some chiropractic work (which I was already going to do) and highly approved of the guy I'm going to call. Going along Pandora with her fingers, she showed me how she's got a lot of pain up in her neck/head area -- hardly surprising considering her history -- especially right behind her poll and in her upper neck. She has one spot on her back that's a little sore. Oh, and she pointed out to me how Pandora's jaw seems slightly out of alignment: her teeth, instead of meeting up straight, are a little off sideways (top jaw closes slightly to the right of straight-on). In addition, the muscle on her right forehead is slightly bigger than on her left. She said this also indicates a misalignment that could be fixed with chiropractic work.

I noted her hind-end tenseness to the vet. She just tends to travel like she's got her butt tucked, and she's always got her tail clamped. The vet said that it could simply be the way she travels but that too would probably resolve with chiropractic work.

Eyes were fine, feet great, everything good, and Pandora was wonderfully polite all throughout the process (even through mouth inspection and tongue-grabbing!). She got a booster for her spring shots and was good to go!

Oh, and the vet also endorsed the farrier we were thinking about calling (we're out of our old farrier's range now, sad face) and said he does very nicely with feet.

So everything is all set! I'm going to make the chiro appointment today, call the farrier this evening, and all should be well. After the chiropractic work, I will feel just fine about really asking Pandora to ramp up the workload - I have issues with asking horses to work hard when I KNOW that they're in pain, you know? I know she'll do it, and it's not like I'll stop working her, but I have a hard time convincing myself to truly work on her fitness when the whole thing would be a lot more pleasant for her after an adjustment. Not to mention that if she's compensating for something, she might not build fitness correctly.

That's all for this update!