It's been three months since Maxine's freakish food grabbing/ tendon injuring incident and I'm finally back in the saddle again. She was looking pretty good in December, but I decided to wait until early January before putting her back to work. I didn't want to take any chance that I'd reinjure her leg.The first weekend started slow.
I went out on Friday and jogged her around the driveway. And I mean that literally--I ran next to her for lap after lap to so she could loosen up her weakened muscles without my weight on her back.
The next day, I ponied her off of Hazel. To my surprise, she really enjoyed walking with Hazel. She doesn't typically like ponying or being ponied by horses or mules, but, Hazel is a donkey, so that's entrely different. *roll eyes* Silly girl.
The next weekend I gently climed aboard and took her for a light workout--mostly walking with a couple of laps at a trot here and there. Since she really needs to build up her back muscles, I started taking her through a lot of bending exercises. I also toss in some haunch turns and backing up a slight incline to build up her hind end.
The slow re-entry phase has payed off. This is her fourth weekend back under saddle and I'm really starting to feel her get her strength back. Her hind end isn't loosey-goosey anymore, her back is really toning up, and she's getting her old power walk back.
Tomorrow, she'll get her first trail workout at Elijah Bristow State Park. We've been there a few times. The park has a nice flat trail that she really enjoys. I'm so looking forward to it!
Photo: Me and Maxine on the trail at Elijah Bristow. This was taken last summer.
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