My Horse, Can Trot a 10...

I don't know how to feel right now...excited? Over-hopeful? Optimistic?
This morning, there was no heat in any of Chester's legs or feet. OMG OM OMG OMG!!  Going back this afternoon, I held my breath as I took off his poultice boot and anxiously felt his leg and foot...hummm, a little heat, but that could have been from the wrap itself.  I see nothing suspicious and don't smell anything other then 2 days old bran and Listerine...you should take a whiff of that.  It's gross.  But, it makes the entire barn smell minty when I first mix it up. Mint and poop don't really mix...kinda like those Febreeze air-freshners you leave in the bathroom...Ain't a good mix of smells.
He prances out of the barn and over into the *NEW* massive indoor...I throw him on the lunge line...to the left and he moves...near, but not, perfectly.  To the point where there is tension in the line and he is trotting, stretching through his neck and putting his nose 6 inches above the ground. OMG OMG OMG!! So, we switch direction and get the same result!!!
Logic here - "Now now Carrie, do NOT get ahead of yourself."  Then again, DVME says that bute pretty much stops having its effect after 12 hours of absorption and is basically out of their system after 24 hours.  And once again I find myself needing to be reminded that patience is a virtue, which I clearly do NOT posses and I am at the mercy of my horse and his damn thick soled feet.

See this shirt? - It is going to end up in
my tack box any second now...

I let him off the lunge and he turns on his haunches and buck-farts away from me to the other end of the arena....and I sit and watch and let him be a horse.  Then I get more and more mad and used this exact phrase in a bbm message to my DVME: 'I am sitting here watching Chester scoring 10s for his passage.'  I followed that up promptly with: 'Ass'.
Little does poor Pickle know, that I have unfortunately for him seen him be able to trot like that.  And he best be getting to trotting like that on a regular basis once we are schooling again.  You know the trot I am talking about - the 'Look at me I am a stallion with a HUGE neck, my ass is on fire, don't want my tail to touch it, trotting on bedsprings' trot. I wanted to kill him.  Then he proceeded to *run* from one length of the arena to the other, snorting, farting, bucking and carrying on like he is a 2 year old who doesn't know any better.  It took me 5 minutes to get near him.  Oh - today when I was there, it was a solid 48 hours since he has any bute in his system.  A step in the right direction?!
So - I stick him in his stall, mix up his poultice, then drag him into the xties...annnnnd he comes out stiff. Uh. Oh.  Me thinks my horse should not be allowed to run around like that until he is done with the damn mystery lameness/abscess.  So - I walked him for about 15 minutes and he seemed much happier.  Then again, DVME said, let the horse be a horse.
I stuck the poultice on him and then back into his stall he went. Before tucking him in for the night, I checked all 4 of his legs and the 3 feet that were all exposed.  The legs were clean, no heat and all his feet felt the same.  There are 3 more days of the bran poultice: tomorrow, Friday and Saturday...which will mark the 10th day. I will reassess on Saturday when the poultice boot comes off, try to have the farrier out early next week to square his toes and see where we end up. 
I for one am ready for this to be over.  As someone recently told Chester: "Although you are keeping me amused with your antics and your mother frustrated, spring is here and there are jumps that need to be jumped. Get it together!"
So yes Chester - for the love of God: GET IT TOGETHER!!!