Recovery week 11 rehab continues - 20/4/15

It's now 11 weeks since Jack had his kissing spine surgery and 3 weeks since he began his hydrotherapy rehab and this week I've not seen him! I've left him in the capable hands of Bennett equine while I visit my parents in the highlands of Scotland with Thomas.  I thought I might as well make the most of not having to look after Jack and take a little holiday now rather then interrupt his ridden rehab when he comes home.

These are some of the spectacular views we have been fortunate to see every morning

It's very strange not going down to the farm everyday, usually I am up twice a day even if im not riding and Jack is out 24/7, even if it's just to change rugs, check him over etc.  I had planned in these 4 weeks that he is away at rehab that I would go up to the farm still, ride a friends horse, clean out my stable and scrub the rubber mats and generally get all those jobs I never normally have the time to do done. I have however found myself with lots of other things taking up my time including having a poorly Thomas for a week.  Although it was a bit frustrating not to get the jobs I wanted done I suppose it is better that Thomas be poorly now than when Jack comes home.

Jack was seen by Bennett's usual physio this week as Tim felt he was a little stiff and could do with a good once over.  He's not been physio'd since his op so it would be interesting to see what she thought.  It was also a completely new physio who had never treated Jack before but I knew she must be good if she's used by Bennetts.  Tim promised to let me know how it went and sure enough I got a txt on Tuesday morning to say he had been treated and had unsurprisingly found him to be very sore in a lot of places, apparently this is pretty common for horses having been under a general anasetic let alone for spinal surgery!  She had been able to loosen him off and Tim could see an improvement in his stiff left rein straight away, good news as the left rein had always been a bit of an issue so hopefully the surgery, rehab and Physio will help even that out when he's under saddle. The advice is for him to been seen again in 2weeks before any ridden work commences at home.  As the Physio tamsyn covers where we live I shall be able to do this at home.  He will also need his saddle checking before we start any ridden work to make sure that that's not going to pinch or hurt him anywhere now he has changed shape from the surgery and rehab.

I'm really looking forward to getting him home and whilst I'm obviously keen to crack on with his ridden work and see if the surgery has been a success I am mindful that I need to take things slowly.  The 4weeks of rehab pretty much replaces the 6weeks of lunging in a Pessoa that a lot of people do for strengthening the back muscles ready for taking a saddle and rider again.  Hydrotherapy is a much more effective at building the muscle and much less strain on their joints than lunging.  It also helps prevent one sidedness as they have to work pretty much straight in the treadmill.  So while I don't now need to do a lot of lunging I shall begin with a few short lunging and long reining sessions with saddle on and using trotting poles and some hacking on the long reins to keep things interesting.  He has not had a saddle on his back in 4months let alone a rider so I plan on taking things nice and slow so he has plenty of time to adjust to being a working horse again and realise that these things are no longer hurting him.  Just before he had the surgery if I tried to ride him he was dangerous, he would plant himself and stamp his feet refusing to move and throwing his head up, if I insisted he go forwards he would mostly rear then plung forwards all crooked!  It could be pretty frightening and we both need to gain confidence back in each other after such a long time having problems.  He could well still have what's called memory pain, where he remembers the discomfort and pain he was in before and reacts as if he is still feeling that pain out of habit.  I'm hoping by taking things nice and slowly, with lots of variety and nothing too serious or strenuous Jack will gain in confidence and begin to enjoy his work again.

One day hopefully we can get back to this