Having no jump in your hind quarters

My beloved Possum is really starting to show her age. My lesson last night was an effort to try to sort out the "wall of death" canter. Now that's all very entertaining, especially for onlookers, but not required in a dressage test.

Coach had a look at her warming up, and said "Hmmmm".

We trotted - another "Hmmmmm".
Then onto canter - not too bad, I thought, reasonably quick transition, correct leg, and cantering along without ripping the reins out of my hands.

"Hmmmm. Other rein."

This is the not so good leg, but again, trot, sit, sit, transition to canter, correct leg. Bit heavy on the forehand, but we are not exactly Grand Prix level.

"Hmmmm. So, how does that feel to you?"

Uh, oh. Now, I have been having lessons with H. for a couple of years now. She knows how much I hate being asked my opinion. I hate getting it wrong, it's just the way I am. I want to do everything right the first time. No matter that is nearly impossible with horses. Naturally, H. uses this to torture me. I mean, teach me.

But even I could tell that something wasn't right. I knew that on the weekend when I last tried canter transitions. H. then had a ride herself and tried a couple of things, increasing the contact, pushing her more together and I could see how little push she had in her hindquarters. As she has gone off her hard feed, she hasn't been getting her joint supplement for the past week or so.

The conclusion we came to was that she is seriously stiffening up and has lost the "jump" needed for canter. And that's probably why she is stopping at jumps too. Coach advised us to go out and just have fun at the ODE. Ride the dressage for accuracy and do as best we can without stressing either of us out. It's only a pony club test that doesn't even have a full 20 m canter circle so we should be able to cope.

But I am now having to face the decision - do I retire Possum? And what will I do with her then?