Adventures with Mr. P

Pedro and I have been through a lot in the two-ish years we've been together, and I want to start documenting these interesting happenings. My hope is that I reach horse folks who are unaware, like I was, of so many important aspects of horsemanship. It goes without saying that life is the greatest teacher, and often that's a slow roll.

"The more you know, the more you don't know" is also true. As a result of discovering equine bodywork along this journey, I enthusiastically said yes to embarking on that career path. The course I enrolled in was really tough, and I pray I graduate and become certified in the near future. The point is I've been operating as a horse owner without this knowledge since I first started working with them in my 20s. If only I had known, I would have been a much better partner to my equine athletes.

This horse is my first youngster, and he came into my life with a myriad of unknown issues. Two years later, we're still trying to correct what isn't right. The top priority is his trembling forelimbs. He struggles with locking at the knees, almost like his check ligaments don't work.

Up until the end of May, I was riding and working with Pedro as best I as I could. I consulted my trainers to hear their opinions as to his issues through lessons and conversations. The conclusions were that he's somewhat lazy and needs to be moved forward. Made sense to me. His bodyworker has shown me that he definitely has some dysfunction in his thoracic cavity and is very braced in that area. He's had a lot of bodywork done to address it and has made lots of improvement throughout his body. I also consulted my vet and subsequently had his knees injected to manage the arthritis. Sad that he's dealing with that at six years old. After continual searching for answers, I'm also wondering if he might have ECVM. I'm at a loss for the root cause of his condition.