Lungin' and Loungin'

I'm pretty sure that I'm not going to take my barn owner's offer regarding 24/7 turnout.  Before Walker got sick, I probably would have thought that was a great deal, but the last four (going on five) months have been a roller coaster with Walker spiralling from one thing to the next.  Now that he is finally getting better and I've been working with the farrier and vet, I really want a situation where he will be watched very closely.  I'm not prepared for our next disaster.  I've had my fill.

The other thing for me is the complete lack of any place to work him.  Even though I'm giving him some more time off, I've been lunging him every couple of days.  I want to help speed along his attitude adjustment, so I'm laying a little groundwork in now.  He's sound, just uncomfortable when I'm riding, so this is the best of both worlds for us.  While I lunge him, he gets a mini-workout without too much stress, and when he comes back to full work, he will have a nice little foundation.

I was out to the barn yesterday afternoon to lunge him.  It's the first time that I got him to canter on the lunge line.  It was interesting to watch how he moved to the right.  It's his right front which is giving him trouble.  When he trots to the right (which is normally his best direction), he is completely turned to the outside of the circle as though he's making every effort not to bend in and place pressure on his foot.  He breaks stride doing that obviously, but when I asked for the canter, he was able to do it just fine.  I will definitely be keeping an eye on everything, and if he starts to work out of it, maybe I'll be on him in a few weeks instead of a month.  Who knows.  One day at a time.

This week, we have a massage scheduled for him.  I think that he could really use the little pick-me-up, and I do know that he's pretty stiff.  I also suspect that he has a little back pain.  Hopefully he will enjoy it.