We're Baaaaa-aaaaaack!

Whoa guys. Whoa. What a long, lame month of July it was. So I won't spend to much time talking about it, except to tally up the totals:
-4 stitches
-2.5 weeks on stall rest
-1 bandage change every 24 hours
-2 boxes of surgical gauze pads
-2 boxes of rolled gauze
-1 week rest after removal of stitches
-Immeasurable amounts of hosing, alu-spray, and scratches cream
-Hand-walking and grazing whenever time permitted

Yep. That was July.

He might be an idiot, but he's just so gosh-darn cute!

But this is August, and August is already amazing. Oh, and I did not start the month off with a rabbit. Stupid rabbits.

I began riding JJ again last Wednesday, but really only walked in order to ease him back into the idea of work. Thursday I did a bit of trotting and towards the end of the ride noticed he felt a little off. I admit, I panicked a little bit. I gave him Friday off, and Saturday morning tried again. Still off. I asked Eventing Rider to take a look, and she determined it was definitely NOT in the hind leg, but rather that he looked a little footsore in front. Which was fair, considering he was overdue for shoes.

The farrier came that day and was amazingly patient with him as he threw little baby tantrums about holding his feet up. I won't spend too much time complaining about the fact that he has always stood very nicely for the farrier, and why is he being such an impatient brat now? No, for now I will just focus on the positive things.

So I rode again Sunday and with his feet feeling much better and over a month off work (and putting on weight all the while)... Let's just say it was a bit of a wild ride. He eventually agreed to pay attention to me and I must say I was a bit impressed with some of the leg yielding I got out of him! Hey, it's the little things.

Monday I rode again and had an even better ride. A Super Awesome Friend even came out and got some video footage for your viewing pleasure. YAY! I've taken the liberty of outlining some highlights and lowlights so you don't have to watch all the boring crap in between. Aw who am I kidding, I'm the only one who watches these things anyway :)

In the first video JJ is showing off his oh-so-impressive giraffe neck and disdain for anything related to the idea of contact. Rather amusing to watch, not fun to ride.

The second video shows JJ coming to terms with the idea of contact and relinquishing some of his favorite giraffe past-times. It doesn't last long though.

The third video gives you a sense of what he's like the entire time - he goes back and forth between giraffe and maybe accepting contact. Often times he lands somewhere in between, and when I start to ask him for more he throws his head up, then I ask him more and he finally drops his head for a few seconds. We'll get there.

And finally, videos 4 and 5 show a canter in each direction. Not so lovely, but we got the correct lead both times and we didn't run into anything, which is always a bonus :)

That's all for now. I decided not to ride today in lieu of spending the evening updating the blog. More updates soon :)