Otter's lyme results came back and looked pretty good.
So, basically the tick had been carrying Lyme, infection did get passed to Otter, but his immune system was fighting it off. Bonus - he still had 5 days of doxy after the blood was drawn. I'm currently debating on if I am going to redraw and get the titers tested again in January or Feb, or just let it be unless he shows some symptoms.
Around the time I got Otter's titers back, my fiancée took his dog to a specialist in ATL (he lives a couple hours south of there) because of some issues the dog had been having, and it was discovered that his dog had prostate cancer. 4 year old mixed breed, neutered at an appropriate age - hit the genetic lottery in a really sucky way. After about a week or so of determining if/how much it had spread/dog getting worse daily, he decided to let Tucker cross the rainbow bridge. It was really devastating for Matt since it was his first pet, and he was so young.
At the same time that was happening, I had finals going on. Got an A in photography and managed to pull a B in Anatomy and Physiology 2. Not bad since I didn't really study for my A&P final.
Mid-month, I took Otter to a local clinic with Dom Schramm. Loved him as a clinician. First day was kinda meh - Otter was good but a little stiff and backed off. I've been struggling with him recently with being able to get him in gear in front of jumps, to the point where I had been wondering if he had enough mojo to even go Novice safely. A good analogy of our approach to the jumps had been like a manual car going downhill that you took out of gear - you are going forward, but only cause momentum is carrying you there. Also been worrying about his knees/shoulders slightly since he has been super lazy with them, dropping one or the other over almost every jump.
One of the best parts from the first day was when he had us walk/trot over a skinny barrel letting the horse carry you towards the jump, then a couple strides to another skinny barrel, then to a small vertical, all on a straight line. It really got Otter thinking forward to the jump, and as a result, I found that sweet spot on his jump where I could balance because I wasn't having to (making myself?) micromanage him. Super excited about that.
Day two was amazing. Decided to wear little nubby spurs for a little more... umm... encouragement. The difference was amazing! Otter was forward and in front of my leg - not running at the jumps, but suddenly my horse was in gear and not in neutral! Great day at the clinic, jumped fairly big (for us and what we have been doing) and a lot of skinny jumps, along with a Liverpool, big corner and two (intimidating) upright skinny coops. After almost every jump, Dom kept telling us that it was "our best jump yet!" And amazingly enough, with more power behind him - his knees and shoulders came up too. The other girls said the difference between the two days was amazing - crazy what some small pieces of metal will do. I was so proud of him, and realized that as long as I can keep him going like that (and sound) he can definitely do Novice/Training ( Don't think I have ambition to go higher, nor do I think I want to push his joints beyond that)
Haven't done much with Otter since the clinic - gave him two weeks off while I spent Christmas with my fiancée and his family down south - it was quite an experience!
Rode for just a short time today to get him moving again - 20 to 30 minutes of trot and canter without asking him to do too much other than move forward and bend - he gets stiff with time off and cold and wanted to get his joints moving again. We are suppose to get some crazy cold temps here over the next week or so, so who knows how much I'll actually get to ride.
Thanks for reading and I hope ya'll have had a good holiday too!
