This posting I thought I would share a few pictures and a short story about my horse, Denali.
This first picture is Denali free jumping a 3'3" fence last week. I can't tell you how excited I was to see him jumping so well. Last year he was diagnosed with Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis or EPM. If you don't know what that is, it is a disease that is caused by a protozoa which affects the horse's spinal cord & brain. It causes ataxia & weakness, muscle atrophy, cranial nerve deficits and sometimes death. If it is not caught early the damage is permanent. Luckily Denali's symptoms were mild and were caught relatively early. The one thing that has been really noticeable is that he lost a lot of muscle with it turning soft & spongy.
We have been in a constant state of rehab since last September, starting with lots of hand walking & lunging to under saddle work this April. I also have Toni Bucciero come out once a month & do body work on him - that has made night & day difference. It has been a hard road and it won't continue to be easy but we will get there. Next year I am keeping my fingers crossed to start showing him in Hunters - as he has a natural aptitude for it!
This past weekend I went to McCall with my friend, Shawna to go trail riding. We had a great time & our horses were really good. I think it was Denali's first time in the mountains, the only thing he was scared of was going around the corners. I don't think he understood where the road went!
We took some time out to get pictures of us & our horses in a big grass field. Here are a few of me & Denali. Shawna did a great job in getting pictures of us.
I am going to make a canvas of this one for my office.
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