We can only guess it's forward...

I'm sorry to not post here more often, but I've decided that rehab is like watching a baseball game where both pitchers are throwing a no-hitter: slow as hell and not as exciting to the crowds as to those guys on the mounds.

Niki and I think Snoopy is making progress. Why? Because he's not getting any worse. He's being lunged 3-4 days a week, which is rebuilding his stamina as well as his leg, and Niki is tack-walking him one of those days. The first riding session, she rode him for about 5 laps and his leg started to feel spongy (not as supportive) for the last 1/2 lap. The second time, the leg still felt sturdy after 5 laps, so she dismounted and called it success. The third time, the leg still felt sturdy, so she trotted him a few paces, just to see if he feels under saddle like he looks from the ground.

He does, but he wasn't extra sore the next day when he was lunging (light trotting only).

We're calling this progress. Our philosophy is, if Tuesday, he doesn't limp for 1/2 lap, and on Thursday, he doesn't limp for 3/4 lap, it's progress. To get him limp-free will take as long as it takes.

In the meantime, once Niki feels confident in his ability to be quiet at the walk (so far he has been), she's going to tack-walk him in the big arena, where he can walk in a straight line instead of constantly curving right or left. I hope to be there, to provide pictures!

More progress! Yippee!

Here's another quick update of Snoopy's progress:

For the past two weeks, he's been lunged with the saddle on. At first, he had a definite hump in his back, and there were a couple of aerials while he remembered the feeling of leather cuddling his withers. He eventually settle down, and is being trotted and loped, both directions, for about 10-15 minutes twice a week.

This past Thursday, Niki called me from the ranch. She was very excited.

"I just lunged Snoopy, and for the first time, I had to look carefully to see which leg was lame," she told me. "He was actually using the whole leg at the trot, instead of hiking it up."

Good news, peeps! We could be back on the road to this again!

Isn't he gorgeous? And smart.