Trying something new...

Max and I finally got down to a bit of work today, and also saw a break from the relentlessly grim weather.

Yesterday on the yard was treacherous. We started off at -7 and then held steady at -4. By Canadian standards, this is the kind of winter weather that barely raises an eyebrow. Then again, Canada is built to cope with far harsher conditions; England is not, and thus frozen pipes that had been frozen since last weekend remained frozen yet. Water buckets had to be cleared of ice and debris with boiling water from the kettle (trip after trip back and forth as the boiled water only worked on one and a half buckets before it was too cold to be of any use... with 35+ buckets, that's a fairly time consuming task) before buckets could be filled with fresh water from the feeble offerings of the one tap we managed to keep going.

We had a hoar frost though, so we were surrounded by ethereal beauty in the landscape as we struggled with the chores, made more difficult by slippery pavement, iced over troughs, numb fingers and big imploring eyes looking out from beneath frosty forelocks.

Today we had what seemed like a heatwave, a full ten degrees above yesterday's temperatures, with the sun shining. A good day to try Max in his Dr Cook's.

I decided to long line rather than ride first time out, partly if Max was going to react badly to it, better I'm on the ground, but mostly because I wanted to see for myself how he held himself, or whether there were any signs of distress or confusion.

Have to say though it's early days, I was fairly impressed. Will not pronounce it a success yet, but Max was incredibly responsive, seemed quite comfortable, and carried himself in a lovely outline. I switched from long lining to longeing for a bit, and though he still went well, he showed me a little attitude, which disappeared again when we switched back to the lines to finish off our session.

The longeing "attitude" could have come from something other than the bridle. It's not his favourite thing to do anyway, and I'm not sure if I had him connected up correctly for longeing either so will have to check. He was still responsive though, and still moved really well, so I have no complaints.

I will try a bit of ridden work in the school on Tuesday to see how that feels. Fingers crossed the glimpse I got today was of good things to come!

A milder night for the three stooges in their field tonight, and for this I am grateful. No hard frost on their grass, no ice on their trough, and no hoody for Max because it just won't get that cold.

The rain will return though; there is always the rain.