Hopping along on three legs

Well, hopping might not be entirely accurate. She can put weight on it. 


Friday -
I left work early so I would have time to hand walk her before my boyfriend and I went to the USF football game. My goal was 5 laps around the driveway, from fence to fence. This eliminated the need for tight turns, and gave her mostly straight areas to walk. It also eliminated the deep footing of the arena. I didn't want to push my luck just yet. 


She was really sore and stiff. The barn owner hadn't been around earlier in the day and had not walked her yet. She hobbled out of her stall and could barely put weight on the leg. It took us 30 minutes to do 5 laps. Trust me when I say the driveway is not *that* big, and it does not normally take that long to do 5 laps! By the end of the walking, she was reasonably looser and was putting weight on it. She could not keep up with me, even walking slowly and walked behind me.




Saturday - 
Saturday was a crazy day, mostly because we got back from the football game so late that we slept in a bit. We spent the first part of the morning cleaning up the house so we could bomb it and get rid of the nasty bug infestation he's got once and for all. So, moving everything we wanted to keep to trash bags, out on the porch, putting the crappy sheet he hates on the mattress to protect it, because he wasn't heartbroken with the idea of throwing it away afterwards. All his laundry into my car to get washed. Then to the store to buy the bombs and spray and traps for follow up. While he set the bombs up, I went to the laundromat and started three loads of laundry (I have got to get him to do it more often, lol). Got back about the same time he was walking out the door. 


Then, we went to the feed store down the street and crammed two bales of hay into my sedan...uhm, one in the trunk and one in the backseat. Yay for an hour of vacuuming to clean up all the hay! (I cannot believe how much hay prices have gone up, as a side note. I ended up buying coastal instead of t&a because it was a $7 difference.) 


Brought the hay to the barn, and took her out for another 5 laps around the driveway. This time, I did figure eights to change up direction every lap. It only took us 20 minutes. Small improvement! She was much less stiff and even my boyfriend said she looked almost normal by the end of the walk.




Sunday - 
Another 20 minutes or so to do our 5 laps. Then I brought her to the tack room to get her brush box, and had an interesting time trying to convince her to turn around in the aisle. I brought her back outside to brush her (figured she's been cooped up in her stall why brush her in there)...but didn't realize how close to lunch time it was, and she got all worked up because she thought she wasn't going to get her snack. So...we had to go back to the barn to get the lead with the shank, so I could keep her tied to a tree with the regular lead, and still have a way to correct her with the shank. When I got her to stand still and had finished brushing her, I then made her stand still and be polite while not tied to the tree, before I brought her back to her stall. And then, I was even meaner, and made her walk to the paddock adjacent to her stall area before I took her halter off...and made her wait while I walked out of the stall before she could go to her lunch.




Overall, I'd say her progress is slow but steady, which is really kind of ideal. Healing too quickly, to me, means she's more likely to re-injure it. I am planning to leave a bit early on Friday again and go walk her, so she'll get 3 days of long walks, and I'll get my 3 days of 30 minutes or more of exercise. :) I had been thinking about going tonight, but then realized I RSVP'd for an event my hairdresser is having.