A while back (last year? year before? It all blurs. I digress), I tried riding Rodney up the hill in his pasture. Within 2-3 strides, it was clear that he was not going to tolerate uphill with weight on his back. Brain going offline. Meltdown/come-apart looming. I stopped.
Last week, we walked halfway up the hill & back down.
We made the task as easy as possible. It was small section of his regular walk loop. We only went halfway. I had Greg walking alongside for moral support. (Did that the previous time, didn’t help.) We pre-walked the trip in hand before I rode it. One cannot make the learning steps too small for this horse.
The hill was steep enough that I could feel him working on the up and balancing on the down. I let him sort himself out going down. I’m a big advocate for installing a fifth leg.
Tiny victories.
Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott
Virtual Brush Box 
At the risk of jinxing it…no comment. You are amazingly patient.
I don’t feel patient. Despairing, frustrated, & annoyed, but not patient. The truth is, he’s here. That’s a given. We might as well do what we can.