Scottie has finally started trotting as part of his rehab and has been looking fantastic. On Saturday I was saying how I think having the time off had done him the world of good as I don’t remember him ever feeling that fantastic. He was forward, loose and willing. He just felt incredible and it was a joy to ride!
But unfortunately, Sunday morning, after already having 4 trots looking and feeling great, I was bought back down to earth, hard. I started trotting and he just didn’t feel quite right. It wasn’t obvious on a straight line, just not as forward as he had been. But around the corners he was a tad noddy. I was gutted.
Luckily one of the girls who had seen me ride the day before was there as a helpful pair of eyes. She said it was minor, looking the same on both reins in the corners. It sounds like he looked okay on a straight line, just a bit uncomfortable, but there was a bit of nodding in the corners.
It wasn’t obvious to either of us which leg the problem was, other than a front leg. But her first thought was left, which is the non-injured leg. But she couldn’t be sure. I decided to get off and give him a day off with a bute and reassess afterwards. The hope being that it was nothing and after a rest he would look absolutely fine and he could continue with his rehab.
Monday I popped him on the lunge on the soft and hard to have a better look at him. It was so minor, but there was definitely something there. One of the other girls was there and she thought possibly left (good) foot was the problem on the soft, with him not really looking any different on either rein. On the hard he was maybe a bit worse on the right rein, but it was hard to say for sure.
Yesterday I had another look at him and he was looking much better. He still didn’t look 100% comfortable. But he looked more like he was stiff through his shoulders than being lame as he had done earlier this week. I’m still not convinced what leg was causing the problem, let alone if it is the same injury or not. But the vet did say that he might always have occasional flare ups which we will just need to deal with when they happen.
So for now I am going to carry on with the plan to see if we can get Scottie back into full work. I will have a final look at him tomorrow and if I am happy, I will look to get back on over the weekend. I’ll probably do a week of walk before starting trotting again next weekend, but I haven’t completely decided yet.
While part of me is really worried that this is his injury flaring up, we did have pretty horrible weather at the weekend what Scottie was turned out in. So it’s probably just as likely that he has pulled something being silly in the field. Or at least that is what I am telling myself until I have a more definite answer of what is going on with him.
This wasn’t the post I was hoping to share with you as I have been so excited by how well he has been doing. But I haven’t given up yet and worse case scenario, Scottie will become an in hand tricks pony!
Last Updated on 14/01/2022
