Off? Or just sorta-off?

That begs the question. I had a lesson on Gus again today and it should have been just a normal day for us. However, being that the humidity had finally let up and the bugs weren't bad, I decided to lesson outside in the outdoor arena, rather then in the comforts of the indoor. Big mistake.

I had forgotten a lunge whip, so the first 10 minutes of attempting to lunge Gus were just wasted. My trainer went and got a lunge whip and then he finally went to work. Surprisingly, Gus was okay to the right - both without side reins and with. However going to the left, he was noticeably off. I thought it was the left fore, trainer thought left stifle, but the more we got him moving the more noticeable it was. Definitely the left fore.

So, being that Gus is normally okay in the indoor, we opted to go back into the indoor to see if he'd be sounder in there. Of course he was. Go figure.

However, on our walk back inside, we noticed that Gus was moving oddly on the left fore. He'd land outside hoof and then roll his hoof inwards. Very odd. So, I'll be in contact with his farrier to see if we can get some hoof testers on that when he's out again next Thursday (the 11th). If he sees nothing wrong ... then I guess I'll go from there. I do believe his x-rays from January showed either some rotation or odd at least odd angles in one of the hoof bones, so perhaps that is catching up with him.

Anyways, back to our lesson. By the time I actually got on, we only had about 20 minutes of my lesson left. So we worked only on walk/trot serpentines (changing on the center line) and shoulder-in/shoulder-fore. Gus was, surprisingly, very good with the SIs. Especially on the ones to the left.

So, homework is to keep working on the serpentines, SIs and I should probably start doing more haunches-in work again as well. The biggest thing is to start doing more work in the other arenas to see if it's just outside where Gus has issues or if we're dealing with something bigger. Although, it's obvious that he's landing wrong in that left fore, I do know that he's usually comfortable in the grassy outdoor arenas and fields... but has been (previously) off while in the outdoor sand/dirt arena. Not sure if that makes sense, but nothing with Gus makes sense.

Last Wednesday, after my lesson, I decided to roach off Gus's mane. Not sure if I mentioned that previously or not, but well it's been something that I've done on and off over the years. Gus can sport a mean roached look and it's just easier to deal with then a wispy, thin mane. Yuck.

So, here's a few photos I took from today showing the roached look, a week out. I like the look when it's about a month or two out and nicely shaped. Gus decided to keep bobbing his head while I was clipping him, so not only did he end up with a roached mane, I also clipped down his crest. Oops. Good thing he goes hair like nothing else.

So, hopefully it's nothing major, whatever is wrong with Gus, this time. He is scheduled to see the chiropractor at the end of the month... so if something is outta whack, she should be able to put him back together again. Hopefully.

Also, unrelated to Gus's lameness issues, I did end up upping his TC Senior again. He's now up to 1.5lbs twice a day, so 3lbs now - up from 2.5lbs daily. Weight wise, he's looking pretty dang good, but with the workload and the fact that I want to get some muscle on him, I figure we'll up his grain for a while and see where that takes us.