Knees Update: Waco is a No-Go

Well this sucks!

(Excuse the 959382947584929294843992 bot eggs. I feel like all I ever do is scrape bot eggs off.)

It's not completely easy to see, but the right front is swollen below the knee and gravity has slowly pulled that down some. Tendons are clean and tight. Above the left knee is where the more concerning swelling is - you can see the lumps and bumps. They are soft, squishy and are no longer warm to the touch, and they don't hurt. She has full range of motion in both knees, is sound, and flexes clean. Nothing so far has gotten rid of the fill... so far I've tried S's Hip-E spray (which is basically liquid DMSO with some other anti-inflammatory agents), Sore No More, Zephyr's Garden liniment, Traumeel tabs, bute, cold hosing. I have some A&Js Ice poultice that I'll try tomorrow... my Traumeel ointment is out unfortunately, I'll have to get some more. I'm going to nail her with some Dex if it still won't go away in another day or so. 

The long and short of it is that she's fine, BUT I don't feel remotely prepared for the Waco ride. She hasn't been worked enough, and I don't want to put her in any sort of a situation where she works to exhaustion. I really want to go to Waco, but I feel like it's just not a smart choice. We have a lot of rides upcoming to choose from, and since we're new to this it's not exactly like I'm going for top 10 or anything.... if I complete and get miles period, I'll be happy! 

While O is off, Tre is going strong! She's doing well and looking better and better. I've been alternating with lunge and saddle work, but will be transitioning over to all saddle work within pretty short order. Today was the first time that I got on her without taking a minute to spin her on the lunge to make sure all her fizzies are out, and she was very good. She got VERY up when she suddenly realized that all of her friends were over in the corner of the pasture running, and she got very jiggy and hot for a few minutes, but some walk work diffused the timebomb and got her back thinking again. I need to get her to a proper arena soon... it's really hard to do proper dressage on the side of a hill, especially with a cold front and rain coming in tonight (read: slippery and crappy). She needs to go forward and learn about taking a better contact, but the basics are otherwise there for her, and she has moments where she really 'gets' it. I like that she is most sensitive to seat aids and hasn't had a lot in the way of rein aids to have to get around - that will make her pretty easy to put together for dressage. She is ready to start trailering out to local arenas for some exposure, and she is ready for her first little trail rides. 

Looking at our Thanksgiving week forecast, I'm not too sure that we'll be getting much done though....

I don't want to see you Northerners rolling your eyes at me. I escaped from The Great White North and moved to Texas for a reason... so I don't have to deal with this crap weather very often!!