I think I am coming down with something, even though I have been staying mostly at home.  All disease germs must love the Christmas shopping season, there are so many potential victims just waiting around to provide a hospitable home.

Wednesday I got my lesson on Mick.  Poor guy, Debbie thought that it would be warmer on Tuesday night so she just put Mick’s sheet on (he is in a stall at night.)  Well Wednesday morning was cold and there was an even colder wind.  When she brought him out it was obvious that he was stiffer than usual.  Right after she groomed his back I put his Back On Track saddle pad on his back so it would start warming up.  I have not been doing the Ttouch circles on his back because I’ve been trying to evaluate the efficacy of the BOT saddle pad, but several minutes into the ride it became obvious that I should have done them.  Poor Mick.  At least I had both of the exercise sheets on his back and having the top one over my thighs really helped me keep my legs warm.

Using a lot of leg I got Mick to walk around the ring.  I trotted him some hoping to warm him up more, and his trot was not too bad but when we went back to the walk he was as stiff as ever.  I resigned myself to mostly walking around on a curving path around the jumps in the ring trying to keep my weight forward in the saddle.  Just about the only thing encouraging about the ride was that when I did anything guaranteed to make his back worse (backing, standing still, turns on the forehand or hindquarters) his back loosened up after around three steps instead of the quarter to half the ring he needed before I started using the BOT saddle pad. 

My ride on Mia on Friday went much better!  This was the first time that I used the combination of the BOT saddle pad, the Corrector on top, plus the BOT exercise sheet on her and Mia seemed quite content.  This is good because I was not doing too well, by the time I was halfway through my ride I finally decided that I was becoming sick with something.  Luckily it was a nice warm morning and Mia was happy to stop frequently so she could look around and I could rest.  I managed to gather enough energy to trot her a few times and she went quite well.  Then I noticed something while we were walking around, Mia was willingly keeping contact with my hands for much longer than usual.  Usually after a few minutes she is ready to spit the bit out of her mouth, Friday she was content to keep walking in contact until I had to rest for a few minutes.  After watching some of the geldings racing around their paddock I went back to walking Mia around the ring, and she still kept good contact with me even though I was getting more tired every step.  When I backed Mia she went back to swerving her hind end to the left, but she actually let me straighten her out with my leg and let me back her up six strides without any other resistances.

Mia was not keeping better contact because my hands were better since they were getting worse by the minute.  I think that the BOT saddle pad made her back comfortable enough so that she was comfortable keeping contact for longer than usual.  So maybe I’ve been wrong thinking that her not wanting to keep contact was because of my hands, maybe it was from her back not feeling comfortable, and when I made her back feel better she just reached out to contact and felt better keeping it longer.   Pretty good results for the first time using the BOT saddle pad on her!

Personally I had a minor problem using my BOT neck brace.  It felt so good on my neck I was keeping it on for much longer than recommended at first and I was sleeping in it all night.  I woke up one morning with my neck hurting worse than ever, I went back to the BOT reviews and ran into something saying that the BOT effect can cause too much blood to come into a previously injured tissue causing some minor congestion and swelling if the BOT cloth is kept on it too long.  The cure is to stop using the BOT for a few days and to re-introduce it for shorter periods of time.  I did so and my neck is now fine, and when my neck bothers me I alternate between the BOT neck brace and my regular neck collar.  My son’s ankle is feeling better from using his BOT ankle brace, so much so that some days he forgets to put it on at all.  He told me he always puts his brace over his sock so that the heating effect is not as strong.  Considering that his ankle has been bothering him for years it is encouraging that he can forget about it for a day or so!  I guess the moral is that there is always a danger of doing something that gives relief too much just because it feels good at first, and with long-standing injuries slower is often better to get a long lasting cure.

I am trying to figure out how to get Mick more time with the BOT stuff on his back.  One thing that I could possibly get in a few weeks is the BOT “Therapeutic Horse Back Pad” it looks like their regular saddle pad but extends over the croup, and it costs “only“ $89.00.  This can be put under his regular blanket though it may need a separate surcingle, and it is much cheaper than the BOT blanket or sheet.  Considering the reaction of my neck to using too much BOT too soon I would not dare get this for Mick until Debbie is back from her year’s end vacation.  I would really hate it if I ended up aggravating Mick’s back when I was trying to help it, and I am afraid that if someone forgot to take it off after a few hours the first few days that his back would feel worse just like my neck did when I left my neck brace on too long.  Or maybe Debbie will be able to convince Mick’s owners that he really NEEDS the BOT blanket and they can buy him one, but even so I would not want them to use it on Mick without Debbie’s supervision.  I would hate it if Mick’s back ended up feeling as bad as my neck did that morning.

Maybe, just maybe I will finally be able to get Mick’s back better.  All I need is more money for the right BOT stuff and cooperative people to do all the extra putting on and taking off of the extra blanketing.  Supposedly after several days of increasing the time the horse wears the BOT stuff it will be safe to leave it on overnight.  I just do not have the energy to do any of this myself.  I wish I did, Mick is so noble, so forgiving, so many horses would be bucking, refusing, and generally messing up because their back hurt and Mick just keeps on plugging along as best he can.  He is an absolutely wonderful horse.  I just hope that if I succeed in making his back feel better that he won’t be too much horse for me to ride.  That would be too ironic.

Have a great ride!

Jackie Cochran