Starting Trot Sets

Yesterday it rained! This was totally unexpected (well, it would have been expected if I'd looked at my weather app) but it gave me the opportunity to get TC started on his trot rehab because the footing was so good and, more importantly, he was actually asking to work for the first time in a long time! Thank you rain! 

It was a beautiful day at the ranch

I've been going down a rabbit hole with my footing this fall since it hasn't really been worked with since I was riding Rico regularly. Like it's fine - over the years I've added sand to it to keep it deep enough and somewhat level, but now that I know TC's feet are sensitive, I wanted to make sure that the footing is really good. 

This may entail me redoing my arena, I'm going to get a quote for a variety of things I may want to do soon. This could be anything from just leveling the base and getting new footing to expanding the current arena or I've even thrown around the idea of putting in a second (much larger) arena out in the pasture. I'll see if I can make a post about that since I'd love to get some advice on what to do.

Anyway, after a week or two of messing with my sprinklers, it rained and that reminded me how good my footing is when it's properly saturated! So that made me feel better about the feeling that I want to stick with my concrete sand. And TC felt similarly (also it was much cooler out). 

Morning chores include dragging the
arena (sometimes while listening to
a meeting for work lol)

I've started to longe him for his rehab in order to get him walking more - I'm not supposed to ride him until after his first shoe cycle on October 7th. But I'm a little unsure of doing much riding even when I'm "allowed" to because his lower back is still a little bit tight and he just doesn't have much topline. 

I don't want him to struggle to support me and then use the wrong muscles to do so. So my idea is to get him fitter on the longe line and watch his back. If it gets worse, then I can at least know that it's due to the work and not due to me. Vs if I got on him right away, I wouldn't know whether I had just gotten on too early or whether it's something that is going to be a problem no matter what. I'm definitely going to be getting a bodyworker involved, that'll happen in early October too. 

Anyway, I wanted to get him moving more without me having to lead him all over the place, so I've been putting him on the longe line each day. My goal is to have him walk about 30 minutes and he thinks that is VERY boring, but he hasn't offered much outside of just asking to go to the gate. 

He's a big fan of himself at least

Yesterday though, we saw a 20 degree drop in temperature (mid 90s to mid 70s) and it rained all morning. I took TC out midday when the rain had stopped and I could tell he was feeling very silly about the rain. He and Rico had already been funny about it, wandering out to their pastures nipping at each other. So as we were walking, he tried to play a little bit, picking up the trot and at one point even cantering off randomly. I can't remember the last time he willingly did anything like that. 

So I set up the interval timer on my phone and decided to start his rehab a bit early. We did four 30 second trot sets with 30 seconds of walk in between in each direction. So four minutes of trot total. Although for one of those trot sets, he cantered the entire time. I wasn't going to stop him! He doesn't have a tendon injury, I just want him to slowly build up to full work since he's historically gotten sore if he does too much (I mean, same, literally typing this I am super sore from lunges the other day, if I were a horse I'd be seeing the vet lol). 

He had a great time trotting and even seemed to want to do more, so that was great to see. He hasn't wanted to do a single thing in months now. I've felt like I'm forcing him to work and that's why we took a break from it. But I think he's actually feeling a little better - his feet are definitely looking better and his back is as loose and relaxed as it's been in a long time (still a little tight though!). So it gave me a little hope. 

Oh and he also VERY quickly figured out the interval timer, he'd hear it go off and would immediately change gaits. So I might need my headphones eventually!

I'm still riding at least, pony and I go
out on the tracks a few days a week

We are still waiting to hear from the vet about his metabolic panel. But I'm 99% sure that he's about to be diagnosed with Insulin Resistance, whether caused by an early onset of Cushings or the more probable general EMS diagnosis, I'm not sure. But he shows all the signs and it would make absolute sense that he has it.