O'er hill and dale...

Finally, Max and I got our walk today, and it was about two hours' worth. Once we got out, and Max settled in, we just kept going.

He protested a couple of times when he could see the way home and realised I was heading in the opposite direction, but he gave in quickly and became quite an eager companion for the second half of our walk, as we started doing hill work. He seems to enjoy hills, being at the top of them, bouncing along down them, and striding up them as well.

No major scares, no major battles, and quite a few laughs. Was really nice to spend some proper time with him after three days of not much at all.

We got back to jokes from the yard about wondering whether they should call a search party because we'd been gone so long, and that somebody should remind me that I'm supposed to ride my horse. That's what my saddle is for, apparently.

Ho ho ho! Oh stop! My sides are aching!

As Max and I were walking along today, I was thinking about this very thing, the "Max should be" doing this, that and the other. At almost six he "should be able to" hack alone with confidence/jump over stuff/hold down a steady job...

Who made these "should" rules? Is there a schedule I don't know about? Should it matter to anyone but me and Max how long it takes us to reach targets, or even set them, for that matter? And if I want to go on a two hour walk with my horse rather than riding him, is there really anything wrong with that?

I don't think there is, but perhaps I missed the memo.