The vet was out to see River again the other day. River's exercise has been limited during her recovery and so she has lost muscle tone; and keeping weight on her has been a problem as we don't want to up her sugar intake. After evaluating her trot and looking at her feet, the vet gave River and I the green light to start a concerted reconditioning process, starting with alternating 30 seconds of trotting with one minute of walking over a twenty minute period. Over the next weeks, we will slowly increasing the length of the sessions and the trotting time. This is another HUGE milestone in River's recovery; one I thought might not be achievable. Of course, how River responds to the reconditioning process will be critical. If she continues to do well, this will break the chicken or egg cycle that I referred to in a previous post -- exercise will improve her overall physical well-being and also improve blood flow to her hooves. I will continue to have to monitor River closely as she stands a good chance of developing laminitis again, but getting her back into fighting shape will definitely help the situation.
Later in the afternoon after the vet had left, I saddle up River and we went out in the arena. For the requisite twenty minutes, we warmed up and then did walk-trot transitions, alternating with stretches. I was happy to be riding her for more than five minutes at a time, and she was happy too -- as evidenced by her "relaxed" snort she gave periodically.
As River gets back into shape, I am as well. Riding is a primary source of exercise for me, and since my riding has been limited these many months, I have lost a lot of my muscle tone and aerobic conditioning. I just need to remember for the both of us not to overdo it! Neither one of us are spring chickens anymore : )
A lot of my blog posts have been about patience. The milestone that River and I are celebrating shows that patience pays off. And all the milestones along the way -- they are meant to be celebrated! My celebration of this milestone was actually getting to ride River for an extended length of time and River got to celebrate with some extra treats. We all have long term goals we are working toward and we need to celebrate the smaller milestones or victories along the way to our end goal. Think of ways that you can celebrate along the way to your goal. Remember, enjoy the journey along the way to your destination. Cheers!
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