The Plan from Here

The day after arriving home from Death Valley, I spent some time checking Hoss's hock. There is localized heat over the inside aspect of his hock. After consulting my anatomy books, I've concluded he has a strained hock. Exactly which structures are involved I'm not entirely sure. There is some evidence he may have a small bog spavin, but it's too early to know for sure. The vet at Death Valley had already advised to stick him in a corral for a couple of weeks. I did my research to determine how long I should take in rehabilitating this injury. I have sketched out a plan to that end.

Hoss will spend the next two weeks in the corral. He only gets to come out for cold hosing of the hock, which will probably only happen for the first week or so. After that, we may or may not use a topical solution to encourage healing.

For the next two weeks, we will do hand walks. I'll just take him along with us when I walk the dogs. While doing this, depending on whether the hock shows signs of heat, he may get more cold hosing or a topical application.

For another two weeks, I will start gradually adding in time trotting in the round pen and short, slow rides under saddle.

After the full six weeks, we should be able to return to full training. These plans, of course, depend on how Hoss responds to this treatment. Should he backslide, I'll be forced to reassess and do something else.

Provided all goes well, I plan to attend the Cuyama Oaks XP ride in March. That gives us 12 weeks for full recovery. I feel this is plenty conservative enough, considering Hoss's current fitness level. I'm planning on taking my time with this. It's far easier to get a good recovery the first time an injury happens, than when you return to work too soon and injure it again.
I'm also hoping that I'll be able to undergo surgery for my rotator cuff while Hoss is still recovering.  That way, we'll be recovering together!