Not great news... but not exactly bad news either...

Will hopefully keep this brief as don't really have a lot to report!

Kika's teeth and back were checked last week. I had her down for an equine dentist visit that was to do a few horses on the yard for last thursday morning, but after talking witha  few people discovered that equine dentists out here are not legally permitted to subdue a horse by injection. As K hadn't seen a dentist for over a year, I was fearing the worst going on in her mouth so called a vet that had been recomended to me who also does teeth. I was also slightly apprehensive of the fact that the osteo was coming friday morning and if K didn't handle the dentist without anaesthetic... Well I didn't want her any more stressed and tense before seeing the osteo the next day.
Now this vet has received glowing recomendations from three different sources, so I was only too happy for the opportunity to get on her books. So we arranged for her to come out on Wednesday afternoon and i took the afternoon off work (which fell nicely to allow me study for my German test the next day).
She showed me exactly what was going on in Kika's mouth and I'm glad to report that there was no extra problems to report than the general wear and tear teeth get from the way a horse's jaw works. It was fascinating, she could attach a little torch to the inside of the mouth piece (for lack of a better term for the metal thing that holds open the horses's jaw) and she could show me the teeth before and after. K was good as gold before and (certainly) after the little dose of anaesthtic, bless her.

So that answered one question, the back issues were not stemming from her mouth as I had thought.
The osteo came on friday morning, although it was afternoon before K got seen as i ended up last on the list that i had posted - go figure, yet live and learn ;-). 
After checking everything over, she said that there was something small out in her rump which she would replace but that that was not causing the all around stiffness she felt in her body, nor would that minor displacement cause her to behave as badly as she had in my absence. The instructor had spoken to the osteo before we went in explaining exactly what had happened when she was riding her.
The osteo - who is also a classically trained vet - suggested as i feared would be the end result that it would be best to get Kika's back x-rayed to find out exactly what is going on in there. She mentioned that she thinks it may be kissing spine which i googled and found the aforementioned information. Unfortunately the sympstoms listed sound like a roll call for Kika's recent behaviour, but I will know nothing for sure until the x-rays are done.... so i am trying to keep a handle on my imagination.

She has had two and half weeks off from ridden work now, and was in much better form this weekend when being handled. I have now brought a large bag of carrots to the barn and have resumed doing neck stretches with her and she is still allowed to go in the walker every morning and i give her either a loose lunging session or actual lungeing every other day to blow out the cobwebs and allow her stretch her legs a bit. Which more often than not results in some form of skullduggery or other, but that is also good to see in my books as it means she *hopefully* isn't feeling too sorry for herself or in too much pain. Although i'm now worrying that the messing (mostly bucking) may be as a result of her back being at her in which case i don't know if it is mean of me to make her move - but at the same time i know she needs movement! It would be unhealthy to only allow her walk and stand in her stable. She does seem to be enjoying herself when she gets to fart and buck around the arenas when lungeing, so hopefully it's skullduggery and not pain.

This as usual is going on longer than i had intended (I swear i meant to keep this short!), but just a quick extra note to say that the barn "Christmas" party was on yesterday. There was a jumping quadrille, a dressage quadrille (both to music) and the Riding School kids put on a flatwork performance to music. School ponies are gas! It was lovely and the owners laid out Gluweien, hot chocolate and cakes galore to entertain the liveries. St Nicholas also made an appearance with Black Peter, brought in by the old owner (his sons now run the yard) and his carriage horses. It really was a nice way to spend a sunday afternoon!