(Rose and Halie)
Halie and I loaded my arsenal of grooming supplies, cookies and camera parts into the car and headed out to visit Rose early in the morning. We arrived around 8:30 a.m. and headed straight to the stall. I went in with a pocket full of cookies and scratched all her favorite spots then went to doing her old stretches with her neck from side to side but this time she wasn't as flexible as she normally would be. I pulled out the cheesy ten dollar massage thing (somewhat like a curry comb but with rounded "fingers" and I do have to say it felt good on myself in the tack store) and got to work "massaging" Rose. I'd have to say she really enjoyed that little tool. Especially around the shoulders, withers and neck. It seemed to me she was a little sore in the right shoulder, more so than the left and when TBG came in and we started talking (while Halie finished out the "massage") he confirmed she'd been acting sore in that shoulder. As we continued to talk I also told him I've got the number to an animal communicator (or animal physic) and I'd resort to calling this person if I had to (at this point TBG had to be thinking I'd gone absolutely batshit crazy) but he grinned and humored me and said "whatever works".

He led her out to lunge her for me and you could see what he was talking about. She wasn't "right". She was tracking unevenly and short but she wasn't moving with any obvious head bobbing lameness. I'd already gone over her with a fine tooth comb and couldn't find anything obvious. Halie and I messed with her a bit more trotting straight lines but then I gave her to Halie and went to my car to hunt down where I had written that lady's number. It was then I did the most ludicrous thing I think I'd ever done in my life. I called the "animal communicator/physic" person. Mind you at this point I even had Halie laughing at me calling me "the crazy lady". I looked at her and growled "at this point what the hell, IF it actually works, it's worth a shot". We both got into the car, parked it further away from the barn for full cellphone reception and then I dialed and she answered.

She gave a brief description about "how she works" and I agreed so we proceeded. She simply asked for barn name, breed, color and age. (I gave her absolutel no history of the horse) I told her Rose was a white 3yo quarter horse mare. She then told me she would take a "moment to channel her" (here's the part where Halie rolled her eyes at me). She then proceeded to ask me what color were her eyes so she could make sure she had the right horse and I told her blue. She then said, "OK, what is your question for Rose." I told her my only question was "where does it hurt." The communicator then proceeded to tell me (and I'm going to try to remember the most I can without my list) that "she's out at the TMJ, out on the left side of her poll, her shoulders are out of alignment, the right being in front of the left, she's got ulcers but her biggest issue was her pelvis is torqued/twisted and the way she has to move now to alleviate some pain her left hock is taking a beating. It was at this point that Halie and I felt really creeped out cause we knew her right shoulder was sore and when she stepped out of the stall she was stiff on that shoulder. Her hock did flex positive as being sore when we trotted straight lines. Pretty much everything this woman said seemed to help explain the way Rose was moving. Creepy. BUT to put her to the test I asked about another mare of mine I had at home that hadn't been acting right and she told me something that can easily be proved with a culture swab so I'm having that done asap and if it comes back with what this lady says that's just going to freak me out even more. She then proceeded to tell me I needed to find a good and she emphasized "good" certified equine chiropractor to work on her.

After thanking the lady for her time I grabbed my list and went to face the music with TBG, praying he wasn't going to fall out of his chair rolling when I told him what I just did.

I held out my list and told him I actually made the call to this animal communicator and this is what she told me. We went through the list and he nodded and agreed that it too (if it's all correct) would explain alot of the things that she's doing. We're still having the sports med vet out to thoroughly check out things we can't see such as suspensories and such (TBG's fear is having a small tear somewhere that we can't see from the outside yet if it continues to be stressed and get worse, then it could really do some damage). That will be either today or tomorrow but I'll know something right afterwards if he finds anything. I spent the entire ride home on the phone leaving messages for chiropractors.

If however Rose is as bad off as the animal communicator says, I fear chiro care is going to take much longer than the three weeks there is before Rose is set to show at the Futurity. In reality, I don't see her getting chiropractically "fixed" before then. We're still waiting to see what sports med vet says and then trying to get a chiro to get out there and see what they say from first visit but TBG and I both agree, it's not the end of the world. So if Rose is to miss her Futurity debut, she comes home to rest for awhile and then will go back to TBG to get finished out later on down the road.