Fast forward two months and I've only been able to ride him a handful of times. For one reason or another the pony has been lame. First, about a week after our event I came out to find both of his front extensor tendons blown up like balloons, this luckily only lasted a day, and was the result of a hyper active Lymphatic System, which according to my vet isn't that unusual in older horses that have had a few days off after a strenuous event. A couple tabs of Bute and he was good to go a few days later. Then he got kicked in the Butt, which he probably deserved, and was ouchie for a few days, and then right back to work we went. Then the Farrier cut him a bit short behind and we lost a couple of days there, and then finally after a really great lesson, he came in three legged lame from the pasture and appeared to have hyper-extended his hind right stifle.
So that brings us to present day, the stifle injury was about a month and a half ago, he's now feeling pretty sound, or he was on Thursday anyway... I've been reading pretty much every article on conditioning the senior horse as well as exercises to strengthen stifles.(Shout out to www.myvirtualeventingcoach.com for a million helpful articles!) and I'm contemplating designing a custom Nick sized bubble wrap body suit for him to be turned out in.
Luckily the competition season is pretty much over, so I think slow and steady, and a bit more concentration on Dressage will be the key to keeping my guy in top form. Hopefully come spring he'll be ready to go out and have some fun.
