:(

Gave him a day off yesterday. In the morning I lead him to a grassy spot near the barn to graze. I noticed his walk sounded different than it usually does, the rhythm was a bit off, but he looked fine in all 4 legs, no heat or swelling or anything.

When we got back from grazing, I turned him out with a buddy, and he seemed fresh enough, they played a bit, he rolled and threw in a few good bucks, pretty normal.

In the afternoon I put him on the longe, looked a bit tight in the walk. Normally when I put him forward in the trot my reaction is "wow, what a great little trot he has," but yesterday it was just a "meh" trot :( Better on the left than on the right, but not really great either side. Not lame at all, but not himself either - this is beginning to sound very familiar...

I decided to hop on bareback and try to loosen him up a bit with some walk exercises, thinking maybe he's just a bit stiff after no dressage for a while - trail rides are great for a lot of things, but I can't loosen him the same way out there that I can in the arena. His walk felt a bit funny, but again not at all lame, and he was pretty supple, steady in the hand etc, so lots of good stuff. I decided to try him in trot just to see how it felt, and he didn't want to! He did it, but very unwillingly, and when I asked for just a little more forward than "slug" he pinned his ears!

Needless to say, I jumped off immediately and hand-walked him.

I can't find any back soreness, I can't see a lameness, no swelling or heat anywhere... He does have a bit of a cough, but that shouldn't affect his movement like that... Why can't he just be OK? :(

I'm going to keep working him on the longe, he's accepting the side reins nicely now, so I'll try to do some cavaletti work, transitions etc to try to keep him supple without riding, no saddle, no rider for at least a week, see what happens. I'll call the vet Monday if his movement isn't back to normal on the longe by then.