The bottom dropped out of the sky today and gave us some puddles to work with! I really do love using water for rehab and exercise, but we're too far from the beach to go weekly and lakes in Florida are not the best for aquacise, so we just have to wait for puddles. I'm hoping it hasn't drained by tomorrow, though I'm sure my trainer would prefer her arena not be an ocean any longer.

Lol it rained hard here too. He is looking so good!

Hill work (septic tank) today! Cliff was very confused but worked really hard so tomorrow it's just a light roundpen session and robaxin 👏

Clifford today. He's still not quite tracking up at the trot, so I'm setting up the poles a little bit longer now, but I'm quite happy with how he's stretching and using his back. He's getting a lot more consistent, maintaining this posture for almost an entire lap of the round pen, instead of for a few steps at a time like he was a few weeks ago.

He's starting to get touchy again with the stiff brush. He ran out of his magnesium supplement a few days ago, so I'm hoping that's all it is, since the brushing is what started this whole journey in the first place. It came in the mail today so I guess we'll find out if the touchiness goes away again.

More puddle work today! Cliff was a lot better this time than last time, not so lazy and very forward and happy to lower his head and lift his back and engage his core. Halfway through the session, he started licking and chewing. People say that this means a horse is thinking, but it's really what a horse does when it's absorbing and coming down from a stressful or high-pressure situation, either mentally or physically. I found it interesting that he was really doing it while he was stretching over his back. It's the first time I've seen it from him, and I'm wondering if he's finally starting to realize there's no pain up there. Either way, very interested to see if this behavior continues.

Tried the equicore again today and used the abs strap and left the stifle loose. Good thing too, because at first Cliff was WILD.

But then he settled down and we got some really nice trot steps in. I think I'll use this more often now that he's strong enough to, and see if we can't finally get him to track up at the trot.

Cliff had a really long day. I put him on the lunge line for about half an hour, and it's windy so he was a bit wild and took awhile to relax. We also worked on the poles again, and it was... a little bit of a mess. He was wild and sore from yesterday's workout, but he's getting the next two days off so I don't mind pushing it a bit. He also had a robaxin snack after lunging.

Then he had a bath and grass for about an hour, and then spent some time using my friend's massage blanket! It was my first time using it and it's really cool, you can move the panels anywhere so one sat on each side of his spine and then vibrated at intermittent times. After about fifteen minutes he started licking and chewing and really relaxing, which is of course the goal. It was super interesting.

I have never used a message blanket before! It sounds like he is doing 👍 great!

Aaaaand we have a track-up at the trot!

The secret is to scare him with a moving van so he actually goes forward lmfao.

Shenanigans ensued.

Wow he is looking great and happy lol!