An update, some goals, etc.

That's not melting anytime soon!

 Well, once again I am being a horrible blogger, BUT, in my defense, there hasn’t been all that much to talk about!

The calendar might say that it is March 7^th, and the gophers have started to emerge—both sure signs of looming spring, but the weather has other ideas. Today was a balmy -9°C for a high (I woke up to -22°C), with the last few weeks being much like this, but even worse. We have had ‘highs’ as low as -28, so Mr. Traveller has been a big red monster, bundled up tight in his mighty Rambo. 

My trusty helper

The good news is that the forecast seems to be improving slightly…we may even make it to the positive side this week *fingers crossed*.

Okay, enough whining.

I thought, as I am trapped inside dreaming about spring, that this would be a good time to talk about my goals for this season.

1)   SOUNDNESS

Although his tendon seems to be doing quite well, unfortunately, this will be a battle for the rest of his life. Tendon injuries SUCK. Oh well, there isn’t anything I can do about it; now it is all about proper care and management. What might this be? Well, just to quickly touch on it:

Conditioning- and lots of it. Nothing too hard and nothing too fast, slow and steady, gradual and slowly building, etc etc. I will also be vigilant about footing and if it is too deep or heavy, take a pass for that day.

After work care: I have a liniment that I have found to be quite effective, whether it is the liniment itself or the effects of me rubbing it in…it works anyways.

Also, any hints of heat or swelling will call for cold-hosing, something that Mr. IHateWater has actually come to like… weird. This will also mean that I need to take a step back and re-evaluate what we are doing- lets hope that doesn’t happen!

Feed: Still working on this one, I’ll get back to it later. My goal is to provide him with all the necessary nutrients to support a healthy system. He generally needs help maintaining weight so some sort of a complete feed will be in order, along with a joint supplement. At the moment we are trying out this one: http://www.basic-nutrition.com/sub_product.php?id=32, I liked the ingredients so I went ahead and bought the little container so we could see if a) he will eat it, and b) if it works.

2)   CONDITIONING (continued)

2 years off has done nothing good for his topline/hindquarter/any muscles. Once again, slow and steady, long and low, lunging, lateral work, etc.

Topline muscles? What are those?

I am not going to list any other specifics because everything else will depend on how sound he stays and how his conditioning comes along. Yes, I do see us doing some jumping- probably not until June or so, but showing is most likely out of the question. Possibly a schooling show or two, but nothing major. I would also like to repaint all of my jumps and possibly build some fill, maybe a wall or rolltop...but once again, we’ll see. 

Anyways, here are some pictures of Trav from today. I will apologize upfront, I took them with my phone so the quality isn't great (along with all the other pictures in this post)!

Mmm

Anymore in the bucket?