We have been doing very little in the past month since camp. At first this was due to me giving my knee as much rest as I could after our fall. But as my knee has gotten better, I have noticed that Scottie is a lot more cold backed than he usually is. He works through it to do some of his best work ever, but doesn’t feel quite right until he has had a really thorough warm up.
He just feels really tense behind the saddle and in his hind legs, his usual cold backed symptoms basically. But they usually fade within the first few steps. Whereas they are lasting a good 5-10 minutes sometimes and we also had a few bucks going down the steepish hill off the yard last week. So I know he isn’t right.
After watching him on the lunge in walk and trot I think he has probably pulled/twinged something in his back, around his pelvic area. This has always been a weak area for him and I think his impressive gymnastics resulting in my fall at camp could easily be the cause for his discomfort.
I have spoken to our back lady, who is coming out in the next few days to have a look at him and hopefully fix the problem. I also asked her for advice on what to do with him in the meantime. Because I suspect the pelvis being the issue, I know that the more topline he has, the better. However, I was unsure whether it is better to keep him ticking over in light work, stretching and using his topline, or to give him the time off. She suggested as long as he’s not lame, just some stretching work. So long reining over poles of lunging really big circles in a pessoa lightly and carrot stretches.
So Scottie hasn’t done much the past few weeks, just being turned out every day and doing a few stretches and making sure haynets are tied as low as is safely possible etc. Hopefully by next weekend we will be able to get back into the swing of it and have some more interesting things to tell you!
Last Updated on 14/01/2022
Get well soon Scottie!