Feb 1st was 1 month after I first discovered Simon very, very lame with a hot and swollen right hock.  One week later, we had a loose diagnosis and prescription for a bute treatment and stall rest.  While I technically should have waited until Thursday of this week, he has been increasingly irritable from the stall rest and I decided jogging him in front of the barn wasn’t going to hurt anything.

And he was sound!

So I’m putting on my big girl, uber patient hat and starting the hand walking rehab process.  He will stay in the stall throughout all of Feb and March.  For Feb, we will hand walk daily in increments of 5-10 minutes until we’re up to half an hour.  In March, we’ll start weighted walking and when he’s up to 30 minutes of weighted walking we’ll start trotting.  When he’s trotting under saddle, he can be turned out again.

I hope that all this slow and steady is just the extra diligence that he needs to come back 100% sound.  In my heart, I think he’s going to be just fine – especially after seeing him jog sound on Saturday.

I keep telling myself that it’s just time, and there will be other horse shows but only one Simon… and I miss my Simon.  I’m very fortunate right now in that I can ride other horses at the barn (even though it’s slim pickings by the time a ton of teenagers who don’t have to work get to ride multiples of whoever – but that’s a different story), but I don’t like any of them as much as my horse.  Oh well, onward and upward!

You may also like:

Simon’s Recovery Progress How to Celebrate the Sound Horse’s Birthday Simon’s 1st Day at the New Barn As Told Through Animated Gifs The Lame Game Adventures in Hand Walking