Something's Up

Spyder is getting increasingly worse in areas that I can't figure out the root of the problem. I'm not sure if he did something in his field or if it's from his trip/fall after the hunter pace, but regardless, something's up. He is himself - Mr. Personality as always - so it doesn't seem to be something he could be "sick" with. His hip area is still bothering him, but it's progressed to tripping in the front. On the lead, he's perfectly good for trotting. In the round pen when asked to move out, he's sore in the circle and doesn't want to trot. He turns to canter (and squealing/kicking out towards me... awesome).

Saturday, he was OK for a quick ride, but I got off and checked him out after 15 minutes of fighting with him - no inflammation or hot spots, but he was irritated when I kept poking him. When you run your hands over his back, he gets uncomfortable by his spine where the saddle doesn't sit... by his hips. He's very twitchy and starts to move on the cross ties to get away from your hands. He's uncomfortable and it makes me so upset. I'm getting stressed, and the vet is backed up for 8 - 10 days. How much time do I give him off? What muscles do I need to build? Is it something more than just soreness? Is it temporary? Is he able to be ridden? Will he always have a bad taste in his mouth when I come out thinking he'll get poked and prodded? I know horses always cycle and it's nothing we can't figure out (I think?), but it's still stressful.

He doesn't want to move forward when there is pressure on his back, and he makes it very clear he's hurting. He's going to have off for as long as he needs to get better, but I need to know what things to work on while he's recovering from this "thing." In the meantime, how do I keep my muscles up? Do I take lessons at the farm? Do I work on cantering since I never really get to do that? ...jumping? I feel like I have no plan - no objectives. What the heck am I doing? I have no idea. *feeling lost* Waiting on vet callbacks and hoping it's from him tumble at the pace.