And so it starts...

Now that the intial excitement of getting our new house has worn off, I've been getting down into the nitty gritty details that moving entails...

I've decided to move Dolly to the farm down the road from the new place for the month of June. I think it will be a good move for us. I've already met several of the people there and they all seem friendly and happy to show me around.

This move will see me have a new barn, a new vet and a new farrier. My current vet doesn't travel to the new area, so I have to go back to using a vet I had used with Rusty. Luckily this vet is quite good, so I'm comfortable making the switch. I still haven't sorted out the farrier thing yet - there are a couple that work in the area, so hopefully one is good and willing to trim Dolly.

We also had a bit of a financial fiasco this week. I think I have it sorted out, but it involved us picking a new mortgage company and switching all of our finances to a different bank one month before closing! As result of this, I now have to switch all of our direct deposits and direct payments, on top of changing our address and setting up new utilities! Good thing I like lists, because there is no way on earth I could remember all of this stuff!

And poor Dolly has sat pretty much neglected for the past two weeks, as she had one week off on the vet's recommendation and another week off since I've been swamped with house issues!

I had the vet out a couple of weeks ago for her spring shots and I also had him check her back. She has been acting 'off' the past few times I was riding. She was tense, her head would shoot up every time you put leg on (even gently) and she was just "weird" while riding. She wasn't visibly lame, just off somehow. He felt that her right side, between her last rib and the point of her hip were a bit tender.

She had a week off, with bute and I checked her on Saturday and she didn't seem to be tender in the back anymore. I am wondering if she was either having some issues with coming back into heat or if my western saddle skirt was digging into her right side every time she did one of her 180 spins.

I'll be trying her in my endurance saddle for the next few rides, as it is adjustable, with shims and wedges that can be added and removed to customize the fit. I also have a new chiro coming out on Monday, so hopefully she has some insight to whether Dolly is truly sore or if I need to further investigate ulcer and/or lady part problems!

Horses are such puzzles sometimes - you have to chip away at eliminating issues and hope that you can discover the real problem and give them some pain relief/comfort!