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Today I show up and I am reluctant to call him so as to avoid a gallop again. He sees me and trots towards me for about 75 yards where it is obvious he is sound on the straight at least. Then I walk him up to the barn and he is being very large in his stride and forward. I decide I will lunge him in one of the pastures since he is sound and zoomy.

He has ZERO problem going left, going right, going up, going sideways, etc. LOL. He wanted to do a large trot or canter most of the time like he had been on stall rest which he was not. I had to whoa him constantly to keep him in walk or trot. He bucked several times which I quashed immediately as best I could but he didn't tweak himself luckily. I don't want to anthropomorphize but I want to say he seemed to enjoy himself. This is in extreme contrast to lunging in the arena which he would liken to drinking caster oil. LOL. I am not clear why the reluctance to work in the ring as that footing is as soft as grass I think.

Today he was sound on all legs in both directions (and in the air LOL). But I know the LF has been intermittent when going right so I am not holding my breath it will necessarily stay sound until the heel grows out.

Tomorrow I will ride him on grass. This is the first I will have gotten on him since the last week in August. I have to say I am slightly unnerved at his irrational exuberance today and wonder what he will do. I will probably lunge him for at least 15 minutes first.

I am going to try the softest of those blue pegasos shoes. Maybe he can stay in those without the heel under-running again.

I tacked him up and lunged him in the same pasture we used yesterday. He was not moving the same as yesterday... shorter strides on the front. He also needed a small tutorial on going left but once we got past that he was fine. He was forward and moving off my voice or my starting to run.

He was sound going right and he was too stiff going left to tell what he was doing. I think he was okay and he certainly was not doing the sudden crippled state he has done in the past.

Going left, he kept breaking into canter rather than stay in trot which is a sign he was slightly concerned. He came back to trot each time I called it but would later break into canter again. I finally got him going left on a huge oval (similar to the arena size) in a continuous trot without any correction needed. I am happy that I ran out of steam before he did while going left.

The longer he stayed in trot the easier it was for him. I think I worked him about 1/2 hour which is definitely the most he has worked since late August.

I am going to say my horse is almost normal going right. The original lameness seems to be gone. The only difference is he is not striding out confidently to his full stride length. Almost though.

Going left, which was perfectly fine until we pulled the shoes, continues to be stiff. He again needed a tutorial on going left. I think he is uncomfortable and if that isn't unstabilized ringbone, I am not sure what it is that was not there before we pulled the shoes but is there now without shoes. Once he gets going he will stay in trot like he realizes he is okay only after going a round a few times. Crazy.

He will be in the blue jellies soon. I predict he will literally sigh with relief.

Forgot to mention, I showed up in his pasture and he canters towards me. He is swinging his haunches a lot, first to the right then to the left then back to the right during the canter towards me. I am not sure what is going on with that.

I ordered two pairs of these blue jellies, each in a different size so we can shoe him twice with two different sizes on each hoof. I can't wait! If they stay on and don't torque off from being soft, I bet he can keep his LF heel growing correctly. The only down side is the shipping from Australia was almost as much as the shoes. I hope they are here in two weeks or so when my horse can be shod again.