Really? Still off!

I went out to the barn on Tuesday to see how Gus was doing. Did the usual 20 minutes (or so it seemed) of grooming and then proceeded to tack him up. We went to the indoor and walked around a couple laps before I tried asking for a trot. While Gus is very willing to move out, he was still definitely lame. Decided to hop off and lunge him both directions, to get a feel to see if he behaves any differently on the lunge versus under saddle. He willingly moved down and out at both the walk and trot (and didn't try to kick my head off either). Still noticeably lame at the trot though, in both directions. I mentioned it to the BO and asked her opinion. She really had no good ideas... stumped like me.

Today I headed back out to the barn and did another makeover session on Gus. Actually, I did that on Tuesday. I repulled his mane. He actually looks like a nice western pleasure horse. Haha... he actually used to be one.

Anyways after his typical 20 minute grooming session, I took him into the arena and just lunged him both directions. Still off. This time though, instead of being comfortable stretching down and out, he was trotting around like a giraffe saying "ouch, ouch, ouch" after his left fore hit the ground.

I sent a couple emails out to both the farrier, J, and the vet, Dr. N (the original Dr. N). J recommends (possibly) putting on shoes... just until she can get Gus better balanced and over these abscesses (I should just say get over this abscess...). So, that's definitely a possibility. She'll be back out next Thursday (a week from today) to trim Gus, and possibly put some shoes back on. We'll see.

I just sent that email off to Dr. N so hopefully I'll hear back from her within the next day or two. She's usually good about responding back quickly.

Any suggestions? I'm just tired of having a lame horse. It's just lame. [pun intended]