Today Freedom started to feel more like himself.

I hadn’t taken him out for the past two days, what with the rain and my work schedule. Today was beautiful, sunny and warm. I thought we’d go for a nice long walk and see how he felt at the trot.

He would have none of that. When we got to the first field, he started to jig. I let him trot and he struggled with me to go faster. When he’s feeling good like that he gets very animated and starts to do a very extravagant lengthening where he floats over the ground and flings his front legs out. He was snorting and spooky and obviously feeling good.

Up until now he was content to walk on a loose rein. When I asked for a bit of trotting he felt discombobulated and uncomfortable. It was a relief to feel the old, more balanced Freedom.

Today I let him canter for a bit too, but not too much. I want to see if he’s still feeling good tomorrow.