And We Canter

Praise the lord we are CANTERING.  It's only for 5 minutes, but still, we canter. 

Prair got a quick check in with the vet yesterday where we were cleared to add five minutes of cantering to our thirty minutes of walking and 10 minutes of trot... Assuming things go well we'll stick to that plan for two weeks, then bump the trot to 15 minutes for another 2 weeks, then ultrasound and (hopefully) return to a less structured work schedule for the remainder of December with an eye toward small jumps in the New Year.

Prair's still feeling great, there is some stiffness in her left shoulder when we start our trot work, but it disappears after a minute and since it shows when I ask her to bend right, Vet is not concerned that its a result of "impact" soreness, but rather a side effect of being in a stall since JULY and holding tension in her front end. 

I'd be much more worried if she was stiff when that Left Front was on the inside as I think that would raise my suspicious about her still being sore.

The only bad news is that the mare still isn't cleared for turnout, but I think better safe than sorry in terms of controlling her movement at this point.... but still, it pains me a bit to keep her cooped up and I remain totally impressed that she's still sweet and calm in her stall. 

In terms of the canter - it feels really different. Much loftier up front which threw me for a loop yesterday.  In my head I'd like to think it's because the mare feels better, but really I think it might be because we haven't cantered since July and she's a bit of a rocket ship right now. 

so fingers crossed that the added canter doesn't set us back.  There's a very loud voice in the back of my brain that keeps shouting that rehab isn't supposed to be this easy....