I outsmarted Dan today! Mostly. :)
I decided that I was going to do my part. We were going to try to rehab him so that he's using himself correctly and hopefully reminding his brain that his scapular muscles still exist. Because dangit... I really think the surgery was successful. He seems so much happier and less angry and guarded when I walk up into him the pasture and overall. So... dammit.... if it worked.... I'm not going to let some sweeney get in our way! And... I'm praying hard that God puffs his muscles back up again too!
So... I thought I would try double lunging/long lining. Plus we'll do the equiband. So I gathered all my things (and apparently dropped my bell boot for proprioception). We headed to the arena. And of course by now it was MEGA humid because it was threatening to storm and hot, but... oh well. We wouldn't be out here long. I definitely don't want to overdo it.
I hooked him up and I'm so darn proud of him! He remembers... All of it. I was even able to direct him without having to be behind him.... like.. just by steering with the reins and using voice commands. My pony is so smart!! Smart enough that he grabbed the outside rein a few times and tried to play tug of war and take off too. :) Ha! BUT... because I had the double reins (attached to the cavesson, not a bit) I was able to haul him around. Not ideal for his neck.... ugh. But, I only had to do it a few times. I do need to figure out how to best do the lines. I pretty much just went from his cheeks to the side rings on the surcingle, which is a nice inside and outside rein, but... maybe too much like side reins. Maybe I need to go up to the higher ring? I'm afraid if I run them from the side ring to the bit and up through the upper ring I'll have too much leverage... I don't know. I'll have to think on this.
But today was mostly just testing the waters. We mostly walked and focused on getting the hang of things again. Except Dan wanted to trot some... so I let him. And we walked over poles. Even the 4 in a row in a straight line!! I did try to get him straight and off the forehand and stepping into the outside rein, but... I'm not sure I accomplished it for most of the workout. But I tried. And I think we'll get better.
We finished up after 20 minutes because that is plenty! And he seemed happy and content. And had good butt foam. Granted, it was hot and humid, so... He got a nice rinse and a carrot for being such a good boy. After his rinse I did a few hannah somatic stretches to remind his brain that that leg can go forward. He was too busy trying to mug me for treats to really focus, but.. I'll definitely keep doing that.
Earlier today he got his feet done and Patrick agreed that he was definitely atrophied. He also struggled a little bit with balancing with his feet up in the air for getting his shoes on. But... he wasn't terrible. Then I talked to Amanda this afternoon and she gave me some suggestions. So I did some fascial work over the atrophied muscles. And I got lots of releases. Whether or not it'll wake up (or calm down and organize) those nerves to help those muscles... I have no idea. But, I have no idea how to help him best, so... I will just do all the things! Which means that he will get more acupuncture/electro and maybe more pneumo... and K tape. AND.... I think I'm going to start taking him to Ashland to paw/splash in the lake to help stimulate the forward movement of that limb. And someone suggested going "nerve glide" while I do that, which means basically turning his head to the right and then to the left while he paws.
While I was doing his fascial work, Funny got some payback! Ha ha...
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