Tying up...

This morning was 36 and partly cloudy with no wind... PERFECT for riding. I changed clothes and the wind kicked up. 25mph with gusts up to 40mph... sigh.

I went out anyway because compared to the weather we'd been having, it is balmy and warm outside! I started with Rosso, the youngster. He was being a wild jungle animal - I tied him to the trailer and he was bucking and flinging his body back and forth. Sigh. I took him and tied him with two lead ropes in the small pen. (so if he pulled back hard and one rope broke, he'd still stay tied - or that is the idea anyway) Let him jump around all he wants til he settles down.

Went and got my mare Sera. Had a short ride - not really so much fun cuz of the wind - but at least my backside was IN a saddle and I was ON a horse. Rode for 30 min. - walk, trot, canter. Nothing hard. It sucked riding in the high wind and I don't like eating dust so the ride was pretty short and nothing difficult. I cooled her out, untacked her, groomed her and was taking her back to her pen when I saw she was tying up. Great.

Tying up is when the muscles sorta lock up. Think of your whole body getting a big ol' muscle cramp. It's like that and it's painful. It's not really known why it happens...

This is the second time she's done it. The first time was maybe 2 mos ago. Her bloodwork showed she was dehydrated... I chalked it up to a freak incident and we slowly started her back to work and she's been fine.

She isn't overwieght, she is not a Quarter Horse, HYPP isn't a factor. She is worked regularly and she is fit. There isn't anything in her diet that would cause it. If it were genetic, it should have shown up before now - she is almost 9. The vet is flummoxed. He took a blood sample and we'll test to see if she's deficient in a vitamin or mineral. He's going to look into polysaccharide storage disease and see about taking a deep muscle biopsy.

Anyway - with all of that going on. No clinic for me tomorrow. Sera is going to have a weeks rest and I'm giving her a dose of banamine tonight before bed and a dose tomorrow morning. I'll call the vet to let him know how she's doing.

Rosso never did get worked. I untied him - and by the time I got to him he was standing nicely so he had his own little training session today without me.

Hate it when your day goes like that... when something unexpected and unpleasant appears to gum up your afternoon. I was gonna ride and then take Kylee out to a movie. Instead we waited around for the vet, treated Sera, talked with the vet and will need to keep an eye on Sera tonight. I called Kylee and we'll see a movie tomorrow. I'm not going to the clinic so I'll have some extra time.

At least it's not life threatening and I do have Rosso to ride when Sera is under the weather.... oh - yeah, not taking him to the clinic tho'. He is too young and green for me to pay $$ for a ride with Debbie. It would sorta be a waste of her time, and a waste of my money. Won't take him to stuff like that til he knows a little more. I don't need to pay more money than my regular lessons for those baby steps in his training. I'll take him for my weekly lesson with Rex on Sunday tho'.