The long road to recovery continues 24/6/17

We are now into week 3 of rehabbing Jack from synovitis and things are going well at the moment!  He's been quite a handful at times but we have managed to do 2 weeks of walking without any disasters.  While Jack was trying to find everyway he could think of not to stick to just walking we did manage to with only a bit of jogging and a few excited leaps and jumps and the odd spin just for effect! 
I am so glad I still had plenty of freestep super fixes Instamag left to take the edge off him, I've not needed it during rehab the previous 2 times he has been through this process but this time he is much livelier!  I'm not sure what the difference is this time but he is very forward going and much sharper than in the past.  Hopefully he is just feeling well!  Anyway as we are now into week 3 we have been able to introduce a small amount of trot and so far he is feeling fantastic!  I think he is enjoying being able to go a bit faster!  So we now have 2 weeks of building up the amount of trot each day and if all is still going well at that point then we should be able to introduce small amounts of canter work eek neck strap at the ready for that!
In the current heat I took him for a walk round the newly cut hay field late one evening this week and it was exciting to say the least, I though the heat may have taken the edge off him but no he was super keen and we spent quite a bit of time going sideways, jogging and broncing on the spot!  Not quite the relaxed wander round the field I had planned!  It is nice however to have him feeling so well and wanting to go after having so many set backs and years of him not wanting to go forward before his KS diagnosis.
I'm still keeping up with the carrot stretches everyday and doing 1 light lunge a week but mostly hacking to build his fitness back up gradually.

While Jack has been sidelined through his latest injury I have been lucky enough to take my best friend Lucy's fab pony Jay out to a show jumping competition at Arena UK, I have jumped him occasionally at home but not at a competition in over a year and I am pretty out of practice having not jumped a course in 9months myself so expectations were low.  I also couldn't get over to practice with him in the weeks leading up to the competition either, not ideal preparation!  Lucy doesn't like jumping much but she did some little fences and lunged him over some bigger ones to help get him jumping!
She was doing dressage on him at the same show so the class we would jump was dependant on her dressage times.  When the times were released on Friday Lucy had a nice early time of 9.20am but the open SJ classes were not starting until 11.30am with 60am Open, I had wanted to do 70cm as Jay jumps better over a bit bigger fence but with the lorry needing to get back to the yard we decided to enter the 60cm class as needed to get done as soon as possible.  It was also due to be 30degrees + on Sunday so didn't want to be waiting around any longer then necessary.  In the end due to the heat there were not many entries.  When I warmed him up it was so hot I thought we might melt!  Thankfully we were allowed to go in without jackets.  Jay warmed up nicely over the practice fences, he was forward but not strong and I felt confident.  I walked the course and learnt all the turns ready to give it my best shot then went back to hop on Jay for a final couple of practice jumps as we were first in.  As the last people finished walking the course we had another quick jump then waited to go in.  It really was baking hot and I wanted to get it done as quickly as possible and get Jay back out of the Sun.  As soon as we entered the ring the bell went and we were off, by fence 3 we were into a lovely rhythm and Jay was making nothing of the fences jumping beautifully.  We jumped clear all the way so as we reached the timed section I kicked on and took tight turns doing a nice quick clear over the second part of the course and giving the rest of the competitors something to chase.  As soon as I was done I jumped off and lead Jay round to cool down so saw the next few competitors and knew I still had the lead.  Jay then needed to get back on the lorry so we quickly washed him off and got them on their way while I stayed for the results.  I was so thrilled when they announced over the tannoy we had won!!  No lap of honour as no pony but a lovely red rosette and a qualification for esuk championship to boot!  Even better Lucy had also won the dressage on him so we will all be off to the champs!