Even though short, Roach had a really great week!
On Sunday, Roach received his 5th & final day of spring deworming. He's been so great to catch, that I was able to deworm him without having to halter him! He's come so far since the day of his arrival!
In preparation for our trip up to Knotty Equine, we practiced loading & unloading on my slant load trailer. He did quite well. He was a bit resistant at first, but I was eventually able to send him onto the trailer. He was a little nervous about having the slant shut but was more confident with repetition. He backed off quite well.
On Tuesday, we went up to see Jen at Knotty Equine. As I suspected, we found a lot that very strongly correlates to Roach's behaviors. Amazingly, I think the timing couldn't have been better. While I wish we could have seen Jen last fall, I'm not sure that Roach would have been able to handle it mentally. Because of the progress he made, he was incredibly confident & allowed Jen to work on him while loose in her vet room for most of the session.
Here are the notes that I took:
- thyroid
- throat
- full R side & front leg nerve - brachial plexus, lateral thoracic, epigastric vein (greatly explains his cinchiness)
- stomach
- C6 R side
- top cranial L
- L poll
- tail head
- R ear
- R scapula
Here are the exercises that Jen gave me to work on with Roach:
- Head Exercises
- Tongue Hold
- Tail Exercises & Waggle
Jen made A LOT of good progress with Roach. He was incredibly receptive to Jen's work & frequently showed her just where he needed to be worked on. He gave us several good releases.
A lot of what we found explains his cinchiness & some of his reactive behavior with his head when lunging. I'm hopeful that I'll see some nice improvement. Pending when he goes home, we may see if we can make one more trip up to see Jen.
Next week's update will be posted on Friday.
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