It's been two years since my Total Knee replacement, and three since his serious hind end injury (best guess is that zigged when he should have zagged, on ice, and went down in the pasture) and we've been slowly making our way toward real riding. He's clearly bored stiff in the ring, but we normally walk the trails and with the hard ground, I'm using Old Mac boots - which he interprets as the right to run. ;).  I still can't post for lengthy periods and his sitting trot is impossible…

What a lovely night to ride.  Warm and comfortable with crisp clean fall air. 

He's so much fitter now - We worked in the ring for almost thirty minutes.  The canter was a clean three beat in both directions, with some counter canter, good contact without curling behind the bit or lifting his head & dropping his back.  He gave me a working trot that I could sit even despite my own physical limitations.  Then he really stretched out and motored on as we walked the track in the…