Angela has put me to shame with her regular Mindy updates so I have finally put the time aside for an update but I'm afraid limited for time, it's not very detailed. As everybody now knows Hex took 'a bit of a tumble' at Thames Show in June and here it is for those of you that haven't seen it:
I knew it was bad when I turned around to see her flipping, but when I got to her she seemed fine, barking and bouncing and telling me to get on with it! So I pieced the long jump back together and jumped her over it to make sure she wasn't mentally scarred too. When I got out of the ring I kept her out and about to let her muscles warm down, keeping a careful eye on her, when we got back to the caravan she had cuddles and then I watched the play back of the video and saw just what she had done to her neck -eep! I was worried, sad and in shock, I knew despite having what seemed like a perfectly fine dog laying next to me that all was not going to be okay.
Our vets confirmed stiffness in her neck and were happy to refer her to the SMART Clinic, who have worked wonders with Kif and many other dogs we know.
Hex had her first SMART appointment on June 22nd, Lowri gave her a thorough look over and her neck wasn't the only problem because as she had twisted after the neck impact she had wrenched and pulled her belly, armpit, legs and back so it would seem that the only part of her that wasn't ouchy was her tail which she kept wagging. She got twisted, stretched and pulled and didn't resist at all, she then had acupuncture, which again she just stood and took and last but not least she had her first go on the water treadmill - this was the bit I had been dreading, Hex HATES water and this was a strange box which would fill up once she was in it and she wouldn't be able to escape, but once again, she just got on with it. The water started filling up around her, she just held up her front right leg for as long as possible and then gave up and let it join her others under water. Then we started the treadmill and she immediately got the hang of it.
I was obviously gutted that she had more damage than we had at first thought, but I was relieved that I had caught it early enough that SMART were happy they could fix it and that Hex could still compete providing I didn't train her imbetween time and did her homework physio exercises (or as we call the Hexercises) religiously.
So we have kept up our Hexcercises and SMART visits and Hex has turned everything to a real routine. She loves it at SMART just look at her little face.
Hex is back on form and since visiting SMART she has won up to Grade 6 and won another Jumping class as well as collecting other top 10 places, her jumping action is cleaner than it has ever been. She has also had to accidents since the long jump - a collision with a tyre and a fall off a dog walk and thanks to her new flexibility walked/bounced away from both with no damage done. I am however now ALWAYS carrying arnica on me just in case!
What I love about SMART is that they know agility. They asked me what her weave action was, what grade she was, what speed she travelled at and what sort of courses she was running on - they knew my dogs body and movement better than me! I would recommend them to anybody who has any doubt about their dog's fitness and/or performance. www.smartvetwales.co.uk
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