Very Good News

Yesterday I e-mailed both Dr. John & Dr. Jacob Goodin (Jimmy's surgeon at Morrie Waud) to ask what they thought about getting Jimmy back over fences. GREAT NEWS FROM BOTH! Jacob replied first:

Jess,
Glad to hear that Jimmy Choo is doing so well!  He looks great in the video.  As far as jumping goes, if he is sound and fit enough, I see no reason why he can't start.  As long as you start slow and work your way up, he should be okay.  Let me know how it goes.

Jacob

HOORAYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now for John's:

All you can do is try and see how he does.    Time will not help anymore at this point.  Congrats.

 HOORAYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AGAIN!!!

I am thrilled to hear this news. It's what I had suspected all along but couldn't justify without any approval from one of Jimmy's vets. I am very lucky to be blessed with the most kind, considerate and educated staff of vets for my guy. I can't wait to start over X's tonight!!! 

Last night I rode before I had read the emails from the vets but I decided some raised cavaletti work wouldn't kill him, so I set up a no-stride. I love setting them up in a corner so he has to keep his pace all the way through the corner and continue on down the long/short side, pending which direction we're tracking. He fumbled through it the first time, as I suspected he would, and was a real champ the rest of the time. He adjusted himself appropriately to make sure he got in and out correctly and never "powered down" after the fact, just kept truckin' along. Very good boy. 

His lead changes are iffy again - I think that one day was just luck that he nailed every single one I asked him to do again & again. It's the same thing we were dealing with before the surgery - his left-to-right is flawless, but the right-to-left sticks most of the time. I think it has to do with a weak left hind, which I had Dr. John look at last winter when we were going through the diagnosis process, and he said "there's absolutely nothing wrong with that leg".....so I think he just babies it. According to X-rays, it's clean so I'm just going to keep working him up and doing everything I can to strengthen. 

We're still working lots on transitions within each gate - starting with the walk. I don't ever ask him to do something at the trot or canter that I haven't asked at the walk. Something I learned from Diane - if you expect your horse to do something at a higher speed that they've never been asked to do before, you're wrong. So we start the rides with collecting, extending, and regular walking with a shoulder in down two long sides & a haunches in down one long side. This seems to be doing the trick because at a trot and a canter he's very soft and supple - like he used to be. I'm so proud of my big guy!!