Wednesday & Saturday rides last week

So, my Wednesday ride was a bit tough. I was just very tired, and I didn't feel on top of everything. Despite that, the ride was pretty good, and we most repeated what we had been doing in the previous lessons, working on collection and the feel of the half halt.

Saturday was my next lesson, and he was not as good as he had been the last two weeks. He felt a lot more reluctant to step under himself. L. said that since it had been about 6 months since he got the hock injection, he might need another. He had just had a Legend shot the previous Saturday, and for all the good they do, they tend to wear off in about a week.

I was thinking that he was good the week before that, the first week I was back from being a way, so maybe he was just being a little more stiff? We did some side movements, and he did feel better. I still had to work a bit harder, he didn't feel as light as he had.

L. said that I could do the 'bute test', give the horse 2 bute (horsey pain killers) in the evening, and if he feels better to ride next day, there is probably some pain somewhere (ex in his hocks, since he showed no other signs of pain, wounds, sickness, lameness etc).
However, I did not have time to ride Sunday, so I skipped that for now.

I need to keep track of how he feels, it is in generally hard for me, I focus so much on what I do, or do wrong, that I sometimes forget to feel Odin.