I started hand walking Hoss on Friday, January 14. So far, it is going well. I go out in the morning, get the goats out, get him, and everybody goes for a walk! Hoss has caught on to this routine in a hurry. On the second day, he was waiting for me at his gate. Now I can open his gate and he'll follow me to get his halter.
We're having as much fun with this routine as possible. I'm using the opportunity to teach him a few new things. The day after we started hand walks, I came down with a cold. It was fine at first, but it decided to settle into my lungs, and making it back up the huge hill was becoming a problem. Well, endurance horses should know how to tail! So, we started working on how to pull a human up a hill by your tail. Hoss was not real thrilled with this notion the first couple of days. He really didn't like me holding his tail. But he got used to it, and now he waits for me to grab hold and hauls away! It give him a little bit more to think about than just following along.
The other thing I've been working on is not dragging his hind toes going down the hill. It is a steep hill, but that doesn't mean he needs to drag his toes! So I started "driving" him a little with a long whip and encouraging him to pick up his feet. A few days of that, and all I have to say is "pick up your feet" and he stops dragging his toes.
Of course, with the nice green grass available right now, we take a break mid-walk for grazing. It won't last, so we might as well take advantage of it while we can.
Last week, I added in ten minutes lunging. The idea is to get a nice, forward trot. For a few days it was a challenge. He really doesn't like to lunge. It's boring. Well, it's boring for me, too! When he was gentled, he got it into his head that "good boy" means, "we're done." Beth spent a great deal of time disabusing him of this misconception. Unfortunately, since bringing him home, I haven't had a whole lot of occasions to lunge him, so the lesson hasn't been regularly reinforced. The result is that, right now, I'm dealing with him stopping every time I tell him "good boy." I know it's a serious case of the "don't wannas," so I just get him moving again and we keep it up.
Less than a week into lunging, and he started acting very silly in the round pen! Yesterday I took him in and got ten minutes of hyper-trotting and cantering. He finally settled down to work, but the end result was twenty minutes in the round pen instead of ten. I decided this means he really needs more exercise. He's certainly letting me know in no uncertain terms!
Since he gave me such a clear indication of what he thinks of all this, I broke out the saddle and we went for a little zip around the block in the afternoon. He was very well behaved. I think the whole lay-off and hand walking is paying off! Of course, when we got to the "running hill," it was difficult to hold him back. I'm pretty sure I could've gotten him to walk the hill, but that didn't seem like a whole lot of fun, so I let him run. I don't think he would have been nearly so happy if I'd made him walk. We're still having trouble not trotting down the hill toward home, but it's getting better and we're not fighting about it anymore.
Hoss's progress is great! Since the fifth day after we came home, there has been no swelling or heat in his hock, even after work. I'd have to say that, although I plan to continue to be conservative about it, he's back to 100% from the injury. Of course, there's a little more to the story, but I'm saving that for another post!
As to me, well, I had my MRI and sat down with the doctor. The MRI confirms a torn rotator cuff. The tear is not a complete one, but he can't tell from the images exactly what he's going to need to do. The end result is, I won't know how long I won't be able to work/ride until AFTER I have the surgery! The possibilities range from take a week off, to six weeks off. In the first case, he'll just need to make the passage for the rotator cuff larger. In the worst case, he'll have to complete the tear and reattach my rotator cuff to the bone! Needless to say, I'm rooting for as little interference as possible.
I haven't heard yet as to when we can do the surgery. It's been a week and a half since I saw the doctor and no news yet. I'm beginning to feel a little frustrated! My next planned ride is Cuyama Oaks, in March. At this point, that's only eight weeks away! Ulp. If I end up with a six week lay up period, my plans will likely be in the tank, yet again. Right now, I'm keeping my fingers crossed and moving forward as if everything will work out just fine. My frustration level, unfortunately, I can't seem to keep under control….
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