Five Weeks Post-Op

Time goes so quickly sometimes!  Especially when you need to coordinate We are about 5 week out from Junior's surgery and he is doing splendidly.  I hate to say that out loud as we're not yet in the clear, but we have had zero complications so far.  That hasn't stopped me from freaking out on occasion, such as the day I noticed his belly looked like this:

Notice how much it dips? The vet's reply to my inquiry text was "I think standing in his stall has been unkind to him :-)" so I guess we'll call it a hay belly.  It matches the muffin top I'm getting from not riding. (It has nothing to do with my ability to eat my feelings or the abundance of feelings I've had over the past month.) Oh well, it's too cold to be skinny anyway. We will both have some work to do come January!

He is coping better with stall rest than I anticipated, but he did rear when we began our walk last Sunday and he's spooked a few times for me and for his OP, so we're keeping a chain over his nose and puffies in his ears.  Today though, he was super chill.

At this point he's allowed to be turned out, but because he's still not allowed to gallop or jump around, he needs to stay in an area less than 40'x40' and sadly I cannot accommodate that right now due to weather and other logistics. So he's still on daily (and sometimes twice daily) walks. On January 7th we will have the all-clear to do whatever.  I'll be visiting family for 3 weeks over the Christmas holiday and when I return we will get back to work.

I will leave you with yet another adorable photo of Junior and his brofriend making out.