A new game and the chiropractor visit

I went out after work yesterday to get Otter for his visit with the chiropractor.  I gave myself plenty of time, knowing that since it rained, he was going to be a muddy mess.  One of the girls was bathing her horse in prep for clipping when I arrived so spent a couple of minutes chatting with her before I headed out to get Otter from his field.

Once I got up to the field, it was obvious that Otter was enjoy the slightly cooler temps that the previous couple of days.  I approached him, and as soon as I got within a few feet, he took off to the other side of the field, tail flagging with a very lofty trot.  So with a sigh, I headed over to him again, only to have him taking off again.    We continued this game (for that's what it was to him, it was very obvious that he was enjoying himself) for several minutes before I got frustrated since we were on a bit of a time limit (the chiropractor had just gotten there and was starting on the other horse he was doing).  I went back inside, grabbed a couple of treats and went back up to the field.  First time I tried to approach him, he still wanted to play his game, so hoping to inspire a little bit of jealously, I gave a couple of treats to his BFF who had been sedately watching his antics.  Otter glanced over, but otherwise seemed disinterested in the treats.  I tried to approach him again, and SUCCESS!  he let me halter him up.  I fed him the rest of the treats and led him in.

I was able to knock most of the mud off of him before the chiro finished with the other horse and then it was his time.  Since it was this chiro's first time working on Otter, I gave him a run down on his past injuries, and what we've been doing.  He went to start working on Otter, and at first Otter was extremely reactive and tense.  The chiro started at his poll, and slowly worked his way down, working on both sides of Otter.  By the time he got down to his wither, Otter was looking much more comfortable and relaxed - I, on the other hand, was not doing so well.  For whatever reason, while I was standing there holding the lead rope, I had started sweating and was getting tunnel-visioned.  Having passed out in the past (always while blood was being drawn, or similar things), I knew I was about to pass out for some unknown reason.  I managed to get one of the other boarders to hold Otter while I went and sat down.  5-10 minutes sitting down, some water and a couple of sunflower seeds and I was back to normal.  Still not entirely sure what caused the lightheadedness, but general consensus was low blood sugar.  I still feel embarrassed about the situation - I'm not one to make a scene and the other barn girls fussed over me a bit when I was sitting  down.

I resumed my leadrope while the chiro was just finishing up and flexing and stretching Otter's legs.  I have to say I was impressed at just how flexible he was!  I can't wait to see what Otter's extensions and lengthenings will look like when we get to that level in his training.  Since I had missed the rest of the work done on his back, I asked how badly his pelvis/iliosacral area were out (since that was where I felt like he had been most locked up, and had been fairly reactive before the adjusting started) and the chiro replied that he had been out but after he had adjusted Otter's withers (big adjustment - he said they moved a good bit) that the rest of the back had fallen right back into alignment with only a few small adjustments needed.  That was very interesting news to me, because it wasn't one of my suspect areas. 

After the chiro was done, I blanketed Otter back up then returned him to his stall so he could eat.  I went out to eat some fantastic pizza with one of the girls from the barn and her friend (thinking that if low blood sugar was the cause of the near fainting spell, I needed to eat something) and hung out with them till I headed home. 

November Challenges:

Planking:  Totally forgot about this last night, so I'll be a day behind on this. 

No Stirrups November:  Didn't ride last night, and have decided I'm going to catch up on stuff at home today, so will start this tomorrow.

Thanks for reading!