Back to work

It's been a worrying week here at Luso Towers. After his ride last Thursday T trotted off down the field distinctly lame on his left fore. Got him in, cold hosed and awaited the vet, fearing a tendon injury, which is far from ideal at the onset of the breeding season, to say nothing of his competition plans. He had a course of bute and the vet recommended box rest, cold hosing as often as possible and bandaging.

Unfortunately Sid and I then had to go away for the weekend (for which, see my blog), leaving Noodal with the full weight of responsibility for all that extra work. When we got back he was much improved and she did an excellent job of taking care him and the other critters, going that extra mile to keep him happy in his confinement. He is not keen on being cooped up and if not suitably amused will capriole repeatedly, which is sub-optimal at best when trying to rest a foreleg. Luckily we have a rubber area outside his stable which can be gated off to an area about the size of a stable, so he was able to spend time with the sun on his back. Also, Q stayed in to keep him company with a little area sectioned off outside his stable so that he could graze. That helped enormously, along with a bucket of haylage suffused with carrots, a molassed lick and a ball full of nuts.

When we got back on Monday he was much improved, with the heat and swelling subsided. We took him in to the vets on Tuesday for further assessment, and he trotted up sound. We opted to go for the ultrasound anyway and there was no sign of any damage, leading me to conclude that there may well be a god after all as it seems he must have just strained it mildly.

Since then he's had restricted turnout in a small pen fenced off with electric tape, and again I give thanks to that fabulous Lusitano temperament that allows him to settle to graze even with mares all around. He is such a splendid boy.

I was back to work on Wednesday and too battered to do much other than loll around when I got home, so today was the first time I have ridden him. The vet prescribed a slow return to work, walk for the first week, so that is what we did. Cold hosed him as a precaution as it seemed to me there was a little bit of warmth. With luck he can return to full work in a few weeks and we can start work getting him on the dummy. Need to get him out hacking too.

In the meantime Q has been going well and we have been doing some work on changes. With Q is the first time I have done any work on developing changes, having only ever ridden them on schoolmasters, so I'm a bit leery but he is doing well. His next outing will be a clinic at the TTT on the 30th April with Mandy, and we are looking forward to that.

Next we have to clean out and equip Larry the lab and get the dummy and stocks installed - just awaiting Pheel's pleasure for that. Needless to say it has been raining constantly all week, so am hoping the grass will start growing more too.