Lungeing Video

Rehab Day

02/03/10 It has been snowing and raining lately. This was the first day I was able to get out and work with Muddy since his first rehab day. Clark (barn owner) had told me that Muddy and his pasture pal Reno had been galloping around like two year olds. That got me thinking that if Muddy can run around like crazy, it shouldn't hurt him to test him out on the lunge. He was a little grouchy when I was grooming him specially around his hind end. Muddy was pretty frisky leading him to the arena. We warmed up walking around the arena. Then I led him over two trotting poles to get him to lift and stretch his stifles. We did a little backing and turn on the forehand. He was a little sluggish and dragging his feet with the backing up. Then I put him on the lunge and had him walk a bit. Asked for a little bit of trot. First thing I noticed was he was much more forward at the trot than he has been in a long time. I could tell he was feeling really good. I can still see a little stiffness in his left stifle, but it worked itself out. It will take a bit of time for him to get completely comfortable and to rebuild the muscle in the area. Muddy was feeling so good I asked him for the canter. He took his leads perfectly and did not seem stiff at all. I only had him go around one circle cantering each direction and same for the trot. No need to over do it. I just wanted to see how he was coming along. I'm curious as to how often I will need to inject his stifles. I'm hoping no more than once a year, but will of course do it as often as it needs. I'm really impressed with this whole joint injection thing. It's amazing the results.