As I felt Jack was not as comfortable and confident in the ménage as I would like and after discussions with my vet we have just been hacking until my physio could get out to see us.
He has done so well so far and an easier few days will certainly not do either of us any harm despite my desire to get back to normal (whatever that is....its been that long since we were 'normal' I've forgotten what normal feels like!)
We have been taking it nice and easy and on a hack Jack feels fine, he is forward and keen with no sign of any discomfort unlike in the ménage where he is stuffy, reluctant and generally hard work! Although he shows no sign of lameness and is level he has been doing something slightly worrying with his left hind while I pick that hoof out. This was first witnessed while he was still at rehab several weeks ago and I mention it in my blog at week 12 at the time a physio session found him to be tight in the hamstring and once loosened off was fine for a few weeks but it has slowly started to show itself again. It is only apparent when he has been stabled over night. I have to admit I was a little concerned as it was very similar to a horse with shivers however I was assured it was not this as he could perform the other tests of shivers without difficulty i.e turning on a tight circle and backing up. The other possibility was fixation of the patella but again the symptoms didn't really fit. As the physio was already booked I felt confident she would again be able to find the issue and help resolve it for Jack.
Mostly our hacks have been uneventful except one, we ventured out alone for a 30 minute stroll around the village and all was fine until we turned for home and had to deal with a very very loud motorbike, a lorry setting off its air brakes, a man dragging his pukka pie sign, a cardboard box blowing under our feet and 3 other horses trotting past a speed all in the space of about 500 yards! This blew Jacks mind a bit and he jogged all the way home tossing his head and whinnying like mad! It could have been much worse!
Saturday morning was a day I had been looking forward too for over a week as Tamsyn our new physio from the rehab centre was coming to give Jack a once over. I felt sure he would be sore in places and feel better for a treatment. I told her what we had been doing since she last saw him just before we came home almost 5 weeks previously. She started by watching him picking up his feet and he demonstrated the near hind issue beautifully for her! We next walked and trotted up in straight lines then on a large circle, confirming he is sound :). After that he was turned on a tight circle and backed up again demonstrating he can do these with ease and confirming he is not a shiverer! She checked his patella too and found no issue there again as expected. She then checked all down his spine and found him very reactive in the sacroiliac on both sides and set about releasing the tension in this area. Jack was finding it very uncomfortable and spent a lot of time trying to kick, buck and spin away from her as she got the tight areas moving. Poor Jack had been in quite a lot of discomfort, no wonder he had been so reluctant in the ménage. As she worked out his tight muscles we chatted and she assured me that it is quite common for them to get referred pain following surgery and not to worry about how bad he seemed. Once she had finished Jack was totally relaxed and she was able to palpate the area with no reaction at all and the muscles were soft. We then worked out a plan for the next few weeks. As advised previously by my vet I am going to give Jack some bute to help work him for a few weeks this will help him work through any muscle tightness and soreness, we are doing another week of gentle hacking before trying the school again. After the first week lunging can also commence again. I have been given some stretches to do with him before and after riding. He will also be having a nice hot water bottle on his sacroiliac muscles before work to help warm and soften up the muscles. Tamsyn will return in 3/4 weeks to see how we are getting on.
While I'm disappointed and frustrated with myself for pushing him too hard I feel so relieved and glad that we have been able to find such a fantastic physio to support and work with us through the rehabilitation journey, she is so knowledgeable and gave me a lot of confidence that the problems we have experienced are totally normal and nothing to be overly concerned with. I am now more confident that with Tamsyn's support we can rehabilitate Jack successfully. I just need to be mindful that this is a long journey and will no doubt be an up and down one along the way. We have an awful long way to go and I must be patient. It is a catch 22 situation, you have to push them to work the muscles correctly but in doing so the risk is making them over use muscles that have not been working correctly for a long time and making them sore and uncomfortable and then the more you do the tighter and more uncomfortable they become so they then can't use the muscles. Luckily with correct physio, short term pain relief and the correct work we should be able to break the cycle.
The positive news is he is showing no pain or discomfort in the area where his kissing spines were! He was also a lot more comfortable bending to the left which had been an issue Tamsyn had had to work on with him previously. The carrot stretches must be working :)
Rehab is a real eye opener for me and such a steep learning curve!
It all sounds so easy on paper but I suppose you cant anticipate what will happen along the way.
So having had the day off after his treatment in the field Jack felt really up for it on his hack the next day! I am struggling to get him to eat the bute and thinking about a change of feed, he's currently only fed dengie hifi lite and speedy beet with a broad spectrum vitamin and mineral supplement, a joint supplement and oil but he is leaving a lot of it so I think I shall change him onto a lite balancer and a different chaff, I can then cut out the vitamin and mineral supplement and oil and hopefully he will find it a little more interesting and palatable.
I'm also hoping that we get our towing car back this week after it was crashed into a few weeks ago by someone being chased by the police in a stolen car! Once that's back I hope to take jack back over to the fabulous Bennett equine rehab centre for a top up session on their aqua treadmill.
He is looking in pretty good condition for a good doing 1/2 native
He is looking in pretty good condition for a good doing 1/2 native
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