After a long brutal stretch of cold air and endless crusty
snow cover, spring has abruptly arrived. And even better—we have been rewarded
with warm air and sunny skies rather than the lukewarm torrential rains that
typically mark the end of winter.
But no matter how Mother Nature brings it about, the end of
winter always signals lots of mud, frisky horses, and injuries.
Despite being a dignified lady of near-24, Limerick is not
exempt from this annual rite of passage. I took a quick jaunt to New Orleans
last week and my first stop from O’Hare was the barn, where I found my girl
wounded (of course—it seems like most of her injuries are discovered by me upon
returning from a trip).
Blood had cascaded from a mystery wound down the white sock
of her right fore pastern. I could not see the wound clearly, even by the light
from my phone’s flashlight. Since she was sound and comfortable, and the wound
wasn’t grotesquely swollen or hot, and it was very late, very cold, and very
dark, I decided to leave the dried blood as a natural bandage of sorts and
visit her again the next morning.
The wound turned out to look much worse than it really was,
but it still required attention. So thus began a twice-daily routine of cold
hosing and/or icing.
Then Christine suggested we try her Game Ready machine on
Lim’s legs. Lim has never used it but what better time to try? It applies both
compression and cold therapies simultaneously, and I was impressed with the
condition of the injury after 35 minutes with the Game Ready.
If you have horses, I highly suggest looking into one of
these units.
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| Using the Game Ready. |
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| It was back to turnout--and her boyfriend, Call Shot--after the Game Ready session. |
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