And I said, HEAL!!

Large white horse was on stall rest. Large white....well, with the weather change, and with his shedding, I've noticed some more black spots appearing. Now, I know that "flea bitten" is less desirable in the Percheron world than "dappling", and here's a pictorial difference:

 Flea Bitten, above, is like white with little black dots, some faint, some strong.

Dapple, or Dappling, is like a gray or black background with white patches.

Altivo seems to be changing his spots again, and it's interesting to see the metamorphosis. So I've been saying, "Large White Horse" and "Large Gray Horse", but really, maybe I'll just switch to "Large Horse".
Large Horse was on stall rest, he played with his Jolly Ball for a day and then kicked it into a corner. Now it gets moved around when it's in the way and that's about all. I made sure to hand walk him every day, as prescribed, and he never limped. Secretly, I think it was his way to get out closer to all of the tall grass out in the back field.
After his handwalking was successful, we put him into the round pen and had him go at a trot briefly, to see if limping came back. None!!!
Yaay!!!
So, I am allowed to ride him, at a walk only, for the next couple weeks, and then we'll start having him trot while bearing weight. Hopefully he will be well enough for our next trail ride.

Speaking of trail rides, I went on a loaner horse last weekend!!! We did the same loop that Altivo and I did last year, only I went on Chinook. He's a Tennessee Walker, so he's gaited, and way forward. Gaited means that he has another type of movement other than walk, trot, and canter. When a horse is "forward", it means he likes to go. Altivo is NOT forward. Altivo is backward. Ok, so backward isn't a real horse term but I don't care.

I found out that the loop we did was about 6 miles, which is just perfect. I'd like to be able to go further, but I'm too out of shape still. Soon, though.
Being a forward horse, all I needed to do was nudge him ever so slightly with my leg and he'd start off at a quick pace, and being gaited means when he trotted, he actually gaited, and you would just need to stay put. No posting, where you go up and down to be a shock absorber, you just sit. 
We meandered through the woods and into the field, where one of the other girls I was with wanted to canter. We all ended up cantering for the fun of it, and
A: I cantered for the first time!
B: I stayed on!
C: I had fun!

I missed my own horse, but it was good experience, just like when I go on Tanna, and any experience is helpful.

Oh! And this Friday night, I'm going to be attending Gymkhana Practice. Gymkhana is a timed event competition, where you do certain things on your horse, get timed and judged, and have fun. I'll have more on that later!