So today was the day! I was a bit nervous only because I cannot see inside his leg and wasn't sure what the scan would show, but from the outside of the leg I knew I had nothing to worry about. Of course Forrest was out in the field with his friends. The vet still doesn't know about his turnout schedule and so I had to arrive and hour early in order to catch him and clean him up, because of course he would get as dirty as possible before the visit. Luckily I got him cleaned up just in time.
So as the vet was walking into the barn I watched her and see was staring at his leg almost in utter disbelief. She couldn't stop staring at it and ran her hand down his leg as quick as she could. She was blown away at how tight his tendon was and you could obviously tell how shocked she was with how good it looked. Usually through the process of looking at the scans, the vet is fairly verbal and explains what is being seen on the computer. This time it was awfully quiet. The first picture that she took of his leg was white, no gray spots and solid LONG fibers in his leg. My trainer and I were standing behind Forrest's head so luckily the vet couldn't see our big grins as we saw the screen. Without a doubt the vet was really REALLY pleased.The next step was to scan the suspensory and see how thick it was. Now remember, the first scan was measured at 2.99cm August 28. On October 9, his suspensory was measured at 2.74cm. Curious at that point so see what was normal for him, the vet measured the right leg and found that suspensory to be 2.42cm. So we knew then we were not far off. However, today we measured the suspensory again and it was around 1.95cm...lets just say this was WAAAAAAY below the vets expectations. Once again stunned at how good everything was looking. Both my trainer and the vet both agreed there was one more small area that needed to heal, but the only way for it to heal was to work the tendon and build the strength, exactly what we are doing so we will just carry on.
The vet then asked what we were doing with him. I wasn't sure how to respond. Was this the moment we would reveal all? Soon my trainer piped up and said that we were hand walking him for about 30 minutes and that to be honest we were starting to turn him out, in the injury paddock...alone..., but that he was being very quiet and only for a couple hours a day. The vet looked worried, I could only imagine the look we would get if it was known that he's been on 24/7 turnout since October and that sadly yes he has done EVERY wrong move he shouldn't be doing with his leg, but hey hes been sound and not one wrong step since the second week in September.The vet then said that we could start to tack him up and walk him under saddle and that for my birthday present I could ride him for the first time since his injury. YAY. Well I guess we wont say we're up to 10 minutes of trotting under saddle yet then....
Well suffice it to say, the vet plans to be back in the middle of February to check his leg for the walk-trot transition. But only it will really be his canter to jump transition as Forrest is scheduled to start cantering in a week and a half!!! But I now have no doubt that Forrest will be ready for the TB show and will have a comeback worthy of him...lets just hope he doesn't decide that colored fences are scary now though....hmmmm
