And there it was, gone.

 Beamer had his vet appointment yesterday.  

He was a very good boy as we waited for his time slot. 

The vet sedated him and had a good look, then got out the scalpel and removed the lump. He was of the opinion that it may be a sarcoid, and sent it away to the lab for analysis. It also could just be a benign tumor,. He cut it open after he removed it and it was just solid clean flesh. No weird stuff, so I'm hoping it was just a benign tumor. If it tests as a sarcoid he will have to go in once a week for 3 weeks for a shot to kill the papilloma virus that causes sarcoids (and warts).

Loading him back in the trailer was an ordeal! Have you ever tried to load a semi dopey horse? He was ok to walk and balance himself, but was pretty sure the trailer was Not Where He Should Be. But 4 of us cajoled stuffed him in there and off we went. 

Today I wanted to see his owwy- well he had other ideas. (I'm sure it was still sore. ) 

Ummm Beamer, I want to see your bottom lip not your top lip!

I barely managed to get him to hold still long enough to get this fuzzy photo- I circled the spot where the big lump was. 

It will take a while to heal so I have him on soft hay and no grain for a few days. He isn't too happy about the no grain part, but I don't want it to irritate the incision and hinder healing. 

Today we headed in to town to see some of the action at the Canadian Finals Rodeo (namely, the trade show! ) and it was also pretty cool to see some of the rodeo horses we see on TV warming up in one of the arenas. Those team roping horses are large and solid!  We didn't get there early enough to watch the ranch horse competition and didn't want to stay to see the sale. 

I did buy a couple of things- a new set of Streamz Bands for mama Belle:

Now Beamer can have his bands back, which I borrowed for Belle. We also decided to get Streamz wrist bands for ourselves as we both have arthritis in our hands. 

They are all rubber so can stay on 24/7 even when showering etc. I sure hope they help, especially Ted who has very painful hands. 

Deer hunting season is in full swing here, so far at least 4 have been harvested. At least the hunters are coming to ask permission and are courteous. So far, anyway. 

Kai's bodywork

Just as we suspected, Kai was really out in a lot of places.
Starting with essential oils- we use Young Living oils- Release blend on his forehead and Grounding blend on his poll. In his neck, the 3rd vertebrae on the left and the 5th on the right were out; the 1st rib on each side, the ribs in mid back, the scapula on both right and left shoulders- the right shoulder was really locked up, which would account for all the issues I had with right turns- remember I said he seemed like he couldn't turn, until he popped up, and how I had to go right to the halter to get him to turn his head to the right?  We used peppermint oil and Release on his scapula on the right side, because Shayla didn't get a good release there, then we revisited it later and got good results.  His elbows were out too- the right side went in fairly easy, but it took a bit to get the left.
The pelvis work is pretty hard, because she has to work two areas at the same time. The Psoas muscle and an area right at the back beside his tail. It took quite a while to get these to release, but she did get it!

We always looked for a sign from Kai that she got it- he would lick and chew and sigh.
I was so engrossed in what was going on that I forgot to take photos! But I did take after photos, and there is a lot of improvement in the level of his hips now.

Big difference- here is the other photo from last week for comparison:

I think I mentioned everything that we found- Shayla can tell us in the comments if I forgot something. I knew he had issues, and I sure hope that this helps him to be a more willing partner.

Beamer's assessment

Beamer had a date last night- with Green Haven Equine Therapy. Melissa kindly allowed me to video for my blog.

The good news was that his back didn't need chiro, just massage, and there was one adjustment in his neck. The video below shows how she assessed him, and some of the work she did on him. I think that we will have to address the first level of treatment, ie. his muscle pain, and then will have another level to address the issues in his neck. So he has another appointment for Wednesday evening, and I will be massaging him twice a day. I was happy to find that this young lady uses the same essential oils that I do, so we are combining that treatment with the massage.

The bad news is that it may very well be my saddle that is causing this problem. When we checked the saddle, there is a very slight convex spot right about where the soreness is on his back, and of course when I'm in the saddle that spot would be putting a lot of pressure there. So I'm on the hunt for another saddle! I knew a while ago that this saddle didn't fit quite right but didn't think it was that bad. I have a couple of local resources; it's always a trial finding a saddle that fits. I'd love to be able to haul to Alberta to the tack stores!

I hope I can get my boy feeling better before the weekend.