Its been hard and emotional, at times I doubted I'd made the right decision, a year of real lows and massive highs and I'm thrilled to say it ended having far more ups than downs, the surgery was a complete success and I definitely did the right thing for my horse, he is happy, pain free and enjoying life again.
On our way to Oakham
Not forgetting my beautiful boy who has been through so much and still keeps trying for me, he's been an absolute trooper through it all and in a year has gone from being in so much pain he was unrideable, had major surgery, box rest, rehab and SI problems to jumping double clear in our first competition in nearly 2 years and completing a 12 mile charity ride complete with xc jumps.
Its been a tough year for us both but it ended on a high!
As regular readers will know since our successful return to competition in December Jack has had an enforced 6 week holiday as I managed to get Pneumonia and end up in hospital!Just over a week ago I started working him again after he had a visit from Tamsyn our physio to check all was ok. She found that due to lack of work he was a bit tight and sore in his back and hips but she was able to loosen this off easily and he was soon nice and soft and relaxed again and as expected he has lost some condition and muscle but nothing to worry about. The plan to bring him back into work was a week or so of lunging introducing poles to help him to step through and use his back and quarters correctly to build up the important supporting back muscles. I can then begin some light hacking for a few weeks building it up slowly.
I have the saddler booked for the end of this week so I don't plan to get on board until then, just to be sure the saddle is not going to cause him any discomfort. I will just lunge until then.
I have been doing a variety of pole work exercises with him in walk and trot since his physio visit starting with just a single pole and building up daily, Jack has been working beautifully so we have been able to progress quite quickly and by the end of the week we progressed to slightly raised poles. I have been delighted with Jacks attitude and ability to his work, in the past he has struggled with stepping through with his near hind over poles due to SI issues but he is not showing any signs of any discomfort and is stepping through and over tracking on both reins no problem. Its the best I've seen him since before his diagnosis. In trot he is elevated and has a real spring in his step which is lovely to see. He seems to have a smile on his face and be enjoying his work. I actually think he might have missed me a bit, when I was ill I didn't go down for about a month, he comes cantering over to be when I get to the gate everyday and has a lot more enthusiasm for his work. Its so much nicer than feeling like I'm having to force him to work properly. Here are some pictures showing him working over some poles
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