the big guy goes off leash!!

This past week marked 4wks since Charlie's surgery to remove the infected fragment of his splint bone. I'm very grateful that so far things have gone reasonably smoothly in his recovery, and am hopeful that he continues to chug right on along.

wouldn't be so blurry if he didn't insist on coming with me

He was cleared for hand- and tack-walking two weeks ago, and I've been as diligent about that as possible. Lots of hacking, lots of wandering, lots of just chillin in the arena while our friends did their rides. Anything to get Charlie out of his box, considering he had yet to be cleared for turnout.

fanceh dressage horse workin on those fanceh walk moves

This past week we actually upped the ante ever so slightly too. I put a bit back on the horse (we had previously just been bummin around in the hackamore) and asked him to do a little bit of real adult horse work in the dressage ring.

At first I had the sinking feeling that we would be starting over from square one.... But by the end of the first ride he seemed to remember more of what I was asking, and by the second, more 'purposeful' school (walk only, obvi) he was pretty quickly on board with the situation. Here's hoping that continues as he's able to do more and more real work!!

rolling is basically the best thing ever these days

For now, tho, we're crossing another important milestone in Charlie's recovery: The big bad boy got to go out in a little paddock all by himself!!!! With no wet towel Emma and her blasted rope halter telling him not to behave!

oooooh but there's the sass monster i've been hacking around! he only really has this one move tho haha

Obviously Step 1 was to roll. I've gotten him up to the indoor a couple times to roll (while still safely attached to the line) but not nearly as often as he'd like. So he's been rolling a lot in his stall and is absolutely disgusting for his efforts. Ew.

it's a speshul move tho. wheeeeeeee wild child!

Step 2, tho?? Lol Charlie. Much fierce. Many wild. So wow.

such extension, so grace!

Big boy finally got to let loose and snake his head around and grunt and kick and heave his shoulders hither and thither!! As only an awkward, goofy long-legged TB can haha.

lol my friend asked if i could photoshop buck teeth on this pic. such a dork lol

And..... It lasted all of about three seconds haha. He was very impressed with himself tho, let me tell you!

video (with gratuitous slo-mo) here

also, check out charlie's newer, fuller stall-rest-induced dad bod!

And bc I'm basically the quintessential helicopter mom, naturally I kept the camera rolling for your viewing pleasure ;)

aaaaaaand we're done here. hay is good. 

With that very important mission accomplished, it was time for the final Step 3: chillin out at the hay pile. Good boy, Charlie.

yep. wild man in turnout for like.... 3 seconds haha. then parked it at the hay for the remaining hour and a half.

Part of me felt like he wasn't really getting as much movement as he would have had I actually hacked him around.... But the emotional impact of being loose in a field felt 100% worth it, even if it meant I just hung out at the farm setting jumps for friends for a couple hours just so my horse could get that turn out.

So this new milestone means Charlie now returns to a fairly regular turnout schedule, albeit in a small paddock. Should everything go smoothly, he'll be back out to his full field in another week. Fingers crossed!