Even though my vacation was as relaxing as can be, life started back chaotic as soon as my first day back at work began.  Stress at work for Tim and I combined with some health scares from a family member made to an interesting back to reality day.  Everything should be fine, but moral of the story is take care of yourself and enjoy the things that make you happy!

For better or worse, Simon makes me happy… so off to the barn I went to check on my buddy.  At this point, he’s had about three weeks off give or take and our plan was to see how he felt.  Since I’ve felt this lameness more than I’ve seen it, I opted to not lunge him and just hop on to see how he felt.

Usually, I feel the kind of shiver/weakness in the hind within the first 10-20 steps at the walk after I get on.  Last night, I didn’t feel it.

So I walked a few laps.

Then I trotted, and my horse was so happy to be a ‘sporty horse’ again.  Holy motor!  In most of our recent rides, I’ve had to leg leg him on… last night, not at all.  Granted it was a bit cooler and he’s had three weeks off, so I’m not saying this is a miracle.  Still, it was nice for him to be moving on his own.

I kept waiting for him to take a really bad funny step.  We trotted both ways.  We went in the corners where he usually feels awful.  We changed directions.  We cantered a lap.

Honestly, he felt really good.  He is a tad uneven if you’re looking (usual for him with the hock fusing), and he stuck his hind toe in the dirt once… but really – he felt good.

When I texted my trainer this information, she said she was afraid to be hopeful.  That’s how I feel too.  So we’ll call tonight a fluke, and that the adrenaline and freshness from three weeks off was covering up some issues.  I’ll ride him again tomorrow and see where we stand.  I’m not doing cartwheels yet, but it was really nice to have a ride where it felt like my normal Simon.

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