your eyes donut deceive you

This is not a drill. We are talking escape from alcatraz levels of excitement, guys!

oh captive, my captive!

Charlie has been on stall rest for a few weeks now - first for the acute injury and then for recovery from surgery.

ugh but that left hind sympathetic support limb tho :(

It's been mostly ok for him. He was a hot goddamn mess coming home from New Bolton but has mostly settled.

eager beaver!

He gets his hay and his water and his meals and his snax and is basically like "Well I kinda hate you but we cool."

hard to tell who is more excited

That is, haha. That is, until recently. Sir got his stitches out this week -- ushering in a whole new era in his rehab!

ok it's definitely charlie. charlie is very excited haha

We're still on a strict no-turnout protocol, but the big guy has been cleared for hand- and tack-walking to our heart's utter delight. As much as we want - no limit!

excited for #datgrass

Which, as far as I'm concerned, couldn't come a day too early given how some of his legs have fared with the prolonged sedentary lifestyle.

walking like it's the best thing in the world

And naturally we set off at the earliest vet-approved hour. And Charlie was SASSY OMG haha.

tho actually honestly he got quite sassy pants about some horses playing in turnout

He was shaking his head - grunting and snaking his neck while trying to spin (lol) and trying to get all feisty (lol) and trying to jig (lolol) as we wound our way around the driveway and pasture lines.

really tho <3

On one hand..... I kinda forgot how big he was after riding Velvet for the past couple of weeks and somewhat deeply regretted not putting a neck strap on the big guy.

baa baa black sheep!

Butttttttt, on the other hand. It's Charlie. He's my guy. He's the best guy. I luffs him. And he's a good boy. So we were fine. #stillquieterthanvelvet

yes charles, this is not a dream. life is getting better!

I just..... Can't quite explain what it felt like to get back on him again. Like obviously the whole "wow he's giant" thing had to be reestablished bc.... yea.

but #datgrass tho. also these climate control polos with the built in liners will be my go-to wraps for those fronts for the foreseeable future

But even with that, and even with his sassy pants, I was cheesin' like a goddamn fool.

into the wilderness

I just miss riding him. Miss working on what we had been working on. And am still sad that this season closed for us with loose ends.

charlie goes a little #meta looking into his own stall

It's cool tho. Well. I'm pretty sure it's cool. All four of his legs are a bit of a horror show right now after all the stall rest, and the horse is basically covered in a thick sticky urine-soaked dust (baths are frowned upon when surgical incisions are present, but stall rest = sleeping in pee sooo yea).

his long term rehab neighbor was a tad jealous

But we are arriving at the light at the end of this particular tunnel. Still a little bit further to go. But. We are going. And for that, I am grateful.