2011 – Rock & Roll – 2-22-11 – INDOOR ARENA TRAINING
2/21/11: Rock showed evidence of rolling on his right side today and far more aggressively than he had done before. Not only was there mud on the side of his head, but all along his body as well. We are delighted that Rock now feels good enough to get up and down as he didn’t for a very long time. It is causing pressure sores on his left knee and pastern, and left hock. We are treating with Neosporin and are seeing improvement. Though he is getting up and down more often, I would say the improvement we see in the sores is coming from him becoming stronger and putting less pressure on those spots which in turn allows them the time to heal.
2/22/11: Rock and Roll got groomed and did their work in the indoor arena again today. Rock appeared more sore than usual in his right leg, but I suspect it is from getting up and down as much as he has lately. He did his pattern much better with 2-1” PVC rails on center. Though he was showing soreness in the right leg, he still had a much better length of stride throughout the pattern and was still bearing substantial weight on the right leg. He was concerned, but not visibly unhappy about doing the pattern and afterwards, he even rolled on his right side in the indoor arena for us! So, I would say, he is still making progress and I suspect he will get sore less and less as his strength increases.
Roll is also continuing to improve. His walk is less strung out and more collected. He is beginning to use his hind legs more effectively with better coordination. The swelling in his hocks has not returned. Roll had a very good workout the last time, but this time he did even better. His walk was much more regular and rhythmic as was the trot. He was able to do 5 rotations of each of the walk and trot both directions and had not sweated as before, so I let him do 5 more rotations each direction of trot. His halts are improving as is his squaring up on command. Where it was difficult for him at first, he is more balanced now.