Rehab Videos

Yesterday Dr. Landes came by to give a rabies vaccination to a new horse in for training (rabid skunks in the area!), and he happened to arrive as I was working with Highboy.  It was only his second time lunging in the arena, previously his very short lunging sessions were in the round pen to help him get the idea of how to do it.  I haven't done very much circle work with him because his body just isn't at a point yet where he can tolerate excessive (for him) bending on the circle, so most of the work we've done has been in straight lines in hand.  Anyway, Dr. Landes was so surprised with how much better Highboy is moving after only a month of his new lifestyle, that we decided Dr. Landes would come back the following day to take some video so that we can more thoroughly document the process and have something more visual to show to people when they ask what we do with the horses in rehab. 

This first video is of Highboy today, lunging in the arena prior to wearing any gear:
http://youtu.be/HPO7Oqj69Sg

This second video is of Highboy today, lunging in the arena with the theraband on his haunches, and a proprioceptive dangle on his right hind.  Notice how much more he moves that RH, taking bigger steps both vertically and horizontally, and the stretchy theraband encourages him to alter his posture to a more normal position, lifting his back and engaging his core muscles and haunches.  I led him over the poles at the end of his session so that we could see how he currently works over poles when tired.  Normally I wouldn't continue to ask him for this when he is fatigued, but I wanted to get a baseline on video.
http://youtu.be/xy2DLDl-N8A

This third video is a short look at the carrot stretches I do with the horses.

http://youtu.be/_RNEG5cl5n0

Historically, Highboy has had a much easier time stretching to the L because the muscles on that side were stronger.  Today in a new development, he stretched quite well to the R and had to invest more effort to the L.  That is good, at this point in his rehab we want to see changes, since they show that we are making progress and his body is starting to adapt to the work we are doing.  Subtle alterations to the program are now in order, such as stretching equally L and R instead of the extras to the R.


Here are some fun photos that we took today, too.  Highboy is turning into quite a character.  He reminds me of a younger Thai, who was an OTTB I had several years ago.  My only regret with Thai was that I wished I had gotten him younger.  He came to me as a 10 year old.

Dr. Landes and Highboy feeling pleased with the progress that has been made in only a month!  We have a long way to go, but we're well on our way!

When Dr. Landes folded up the tripod it made clicking noises, similar to the clicker I've been using to train Highboy.  This made the tripod VERY interesting as a potential treat dispenser.

Tasting Dr. Landes just in case that tripod meant goodies were forthcoming

Absentmindedly rubbing ears during a conversation - I think he likes it.

Me and my boy

Just in case we don't have enough smooching pictures....

A parting shot:  have you ever noticed how people tend to look like their animals?