A couple weeks ago, I took Chico for a brisk walk down the road.  I wanted to see if there was any sign of lameness since his injury last September.  That horrific cut on his right hind fetlock has healed very well, but it is still reorganizing inside.  The fetlock is a little larger, though radiographs of the joint and leg show no bony changes.

We walked about 2 miles.  And the whole time, I could not detect any  lameness.  He was steady and his footprints even landed exactly even on both sides.  I wanted to try walking him back into shape, by my schedule did not allow that.  Instead, he's been in the pasture this whole time.

Then yesterday, I decided to try riding him and see if he could stay sound.  I saddled him up for the first time since last summer.  He stood solid and calm.  I walked him from the ground to warm him up, then mounted.  He was strong and we started walking.  I couldn't detect any lameness in him.  He was a little all over the place, gawking at everything as we walked (not spooking, just had to look at everything).  That made it hard to evaluate him.  But then, when we turned back home, he was much straighter and walked more briskly.  I could not detect any abnormality associated with that leg.  He still did the same thing he's been doing for years, where occasionally he catched his toe on a hind leg in the sand on the side of the road and trips (never catches his toe when we are walking on trails on more uneven ground - I think it's laziness).  But even that didn't make him sore.  And he stayed comfortable and "normal" all the way home - it was a 3 mile ride.  I know that's not long, but we have to start slow!  We even trotted a little bit, and he really seemed normal.

So, I'm so excited that he might still have a long riding life ahead of him.  He is my favorite riding gelding afterall!

This is after we got back from our ride.  I trimmed him.