Hard luck horse

I've been delaying this update. Riley has been lame for a little over a week, 1/5. Not head-bobbing, exactly, but definitely NQR. I didn't tell anyone, and kept riding him lightly -- figured he'd either improve on his own or get worse, and I could see what was bothering him. Sunday a friend watched me ride. I could feel he was slightly worse, and she said that clearly there was something wrong. She rode, I watched, and vice versa. We could not pinpoint any one thing.

So I called the vet.

The vet came. He watched. He flexed. He had me ride. He blocked. I rode again. He gave an initial diagnosis.

His diagnosis makes sense, it follows logically from the procedures we followed. But I'm not 100% sure. I'm having some follow up work done, and when I'm sure what it is, I'll let you all know.

I told another boarder about the situation -- she has what you might call a "hard luck horse," but he's older and she's been through a long series of ups and downs with him. Her advice, given with a laugh, was "Oh, you never go with the first diagnosis."

I'll let y'all know.