Whelp.... no more lunging for Dan. Even with the chain, he said NOPE. He doesn't even have to grab it in his mouth anymore.. he just... turns and goes. Sir!!! He was spicy today. We did our pillar work for a little bit and did some leg yielding in hand and then went to do our trot. He picked up the trot before I even asked and pretty much trotted the whole 5 minutes straight. We even trotted the ground pole a few times. So then when I asked him to go the other way.. he was like "enough of this peasant.. I'm bored" and just... took off. He ran around a bit and then I decided... okay, I agree. Lunging is boring. Let's play tag. He looked at me like I had lost my mind at first... but then you could see his wheels turning... he was intrigued! So I walked up to him and he let me.. then I fed him a cookie and then showed him another and ran off. And he figured it out and followed me. We did that a few more times with the last 4 cookies and then we had to call it quits. But... I think he had fun. And... me!? Oh I had fun. And my little heart is thrilled that he seems to be feeling so good and is so happy! Yes.. he still is snarly at dinner.. when I blanket him... when he's eating his hay.. but he was snuggly and cuddly today! And it's been slowly making itself evident these last few weeks or so. Is it the chinese herbs? The lack of pain? His suspensaries are happy? The hematoma is resolved and not painful? Because I treated his back? I don't know...and I don't care. Maybe all of the things!
He hung out at the gate after I left and then finally came cantering back up to snuggle while I was snuggling with the girls.
I guess we'll go for a trail ride Tuesday and do our 5 minutes of under saddle trot and then come home and treat his shoulder. Then he'll get Wednesday off because I work.. and then I'll be gone to Ocala with Lyric Thursday through Saturday. So hopefully on Sunday I can do a bit more lunging (if he'll tolerate it) or just go back to work under saddle even if it's bareback.
I'm so grateful to God for all the lessons He (and Dan) has taught me. I hate that poor Dan had to pay the price, but I am grateful. And, I'm pretty optimistic that Dan and I can have a fun rest of his life together... even if we just fart around in the arena and on the trails... maybe we can do some Western dressage, or working equitation, or competitive trail, or foxhunting... or maybe, just maybe, we can even get back to eventing and dressaging?? I don't know. But I do know that I'm having fun with him right now, even doing "nothing" and I'm so glad that God has given that back to me. Because that was not even a given for a long time.
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