Walk Work, and the Endless Trot

I was grooming Cupid on Thursday morning, and noticed his right hind leg was a bit puffy above the fetlock.  It felt slightly warm to the touch, but his temperature was normal and he seemed otherwise fine.  On closer look I found a barely perceptible little scrape.  He looked okay walking so I tacked him up and headed to the ring hoping it was a non-issue.  I let him warm up slowly, but he didn't seem totally comfortable (though to his credit his work ethic was there) so we just did a bit of walk work. We also practiced halting, and asking him to yield his poll and carry on in that contact.  Afterwards I cold hosed and cleaned his leg.

By Friday morning his leg looked fine.  I had planned to do an easy ride, walk/trot in the dressage court to practice the loops for our Training 3 test.  However as is often the case I got kicked out way too early for ring maintenance.  I had just finished my walk warm up, and barely had time to trot one loop and one 20 meter circle each direction.  I could have gone to the covered arena to continue working, but decided to just walk around the property instead. :p

Saturday was a day off. 

On Sunday we had a lesson.  I was happy to see the dressage court was dragged and empty, but it was one of those days where Cupid just could not settle out there.  Spooking at a chair by the arena, and the mounting block, and nothing at all.  Or getting distracted every time a horse moves in one of the paddocks.  It's a bit annoying, but at least it doesn't scare me anymore; his head shoots up and he may scoot sideways but now I'm pretty sure he won't bolt or do anything too silly.  I just don't know what his issue is with this arena, like I've said before even though we spend more time in the covered he's been out there over 100 times already!  And he's not even this bad in new places! 

We set to work trying to get his focus back, and there were moments that were quite nice.  Until he got distracted again.  Pretty much each time we said okay let's finish this circle or whatever and then we can walk he would spook, so we went on.  We trotted for a good 20 minutes, did a bit of canter each direction, and a bit more trot, before finally walking.  But Cupid wasn't even really winded or sweaty, so I guess his fitness isn't as bad as he lets me believe sometimes!  After a walk break we finished with some more trot work, mostly quiet this time. 

I don't know if it was the hard work the day before, the weather, or just his mood but on Monday Cupid was super lazy!  We were in his favorite covered arena and he was content to go around like a lesson horse.   I did try to get him a little more forward, but pretty much failed.  We trotted over some cavaletti, and did a little course with cavaletti and small cross rails (like under a foot).  I was glad he was quiet, but admittedly struggled keeping him straight after a jump instead of letting him cut the corners, I'm assuming mainly because of the lack of forward. 

On Tuesday Cupid and I had a lesson.  He was still being lazy so we decided to canter on the lunge line, so we have a better chance at getting prompt departs instead of practicing chasing him into it.  Plus I'm not going to lie, I strangely enjoy being on the lunge!  He still struggled a bit with getting the left lead.  Whenever I think we're over that problem it seems to reappear. :/  I've discussed with the vet and chiropractor in the past, and obviously my trainer is well aware, and all parties say there doesn't seem to be any physical reason but it is harder for him (and my bad side as well which doesn't help).  By the end of the lesson Cupid was a bit more awake, and we ended with trotting some serpentines which felt really good.