Adjusting to the New Normal : Update part 1

The best bean

As of today we are on day 202 of stallrest/rehab. So tough to believe that we're well over half a year into this thing at this point. Honestly, the last few weeks have been the toughest so far mentally, probably for both of us. Niall is understandably very over stall rest and I'm super extra bored at this point of going out and walking around in the same circle. Add to that the chaos of trying to get her outside safely and it's felt like a rough rollercoaster ride recently. 

Super happy with her condition especially at this
point in her stall rest

I keep reminding myself that we're getting close to the end of this particular season of our lives and soon the fun stuff will start. I'll also start to have more flexibility for personal life things. Poor James is getting the short end of the stick at this point and I'm really tired of having to turn down pretty much every social invitation I get. I know he's tired of going to see friends by himself. I'm super exhausted and my sleep schedule is all over the place since I routinely don't get home from the barn until close to midnight. Truly though, that's it for venting because overall it's been worth it and things are going pretty well.

The last time I did a real update on here was at Niall's ultrasound appointment. I've had one more interaction with the vet since then where we talked over the phone about rehab plans. We ended up changing things up a bit from what we were thinking at the ultrasound appointment because both of us were concerned about her ability to longe appropriately with so little experience and training. Because of that though we ended up with her being able to be turned out at 6 months without being in full work because there really wasn't another option. 

Little (sound) trotsies

I've ended up somewhere in the middle and we're up to 10 minutes of trot as of this week with me jogging her in hand. We started with straight lines and I built up to 5 minutes from about 1 minute. Then I added in curved lines slowly but stayed at 5 minutes. This week we'll be doing 10 minutes including curved lines. During all of this she has stayed sound so that's been awesome. 

Such a good girl <3

I've also continued to practice with the long lines and we're up to the point where I can get several steps of calm and decently steerable trot. I'm still using the rope halter but she's been wearing the bit over the halter quite a bit and I've started to work with her on steering with the bit. That's going to take some time for her because she's still really messing with it. I switched up which bit I'm using on Sunday so we'll see if that helps at all.

We got her outside for a couple of hours for the first time on Saturday in a (basically) 12x24' space. She did well but there were definitely some moments of bouncing. She was still sound after though so fingers crossed she's at a point in her rehab where the ligament can take some of that. 

The calm before the storm
(really though she was good, just happy and bouncy)

The best news from that vet call was that I can start her under saddle at 8 months. We have all the pieces in place so I'm pretty much ready to swing my leg over at this point. I'll continue to take it slow and not move forward until she's completely ready but I'm super excited that a slow start under saddle can happen in just over a month. With slow progress and lots of walking I'm hoping we can get her through the 12 months it can take for ligament healing safe and sound and be ready to take on the world after that :)

I can't wait to give this girl a real job