Playing statues?

Kept Max in this afternoon while I did the yard work so I could have a little time to give him some attention when we were done, and also keep him back from the grass a little longer. With the rain we've had lately, despite the meagre pickings in his pony paddock, both Max and his field mate have blossomed. Not worryingly so, but enough for me to exercise caution.

Max was hanging his head out of the door trying to get my attention when a pigeon flew in and landed on his head, right between his ears.

Max's face was a picture!

"Eh? What the...?"

The pigeon flew away, and Max shook his head and blew a hearty snort, then looked at me with a bewildered gaze.

"Oh, Max! We could put you on that empty plinth in Trafalgar Square!"

We've had a brilliant couple of sessions over the last couple of days and seem to have had another break through.

I had a day off from the office job in Friday, so Max and I went on a lone hack in perfect weather.

We were out on our own for about two hours!

We set off from the yard with me not sure where we'd go or for how long, and this seemed to work well for us. I made decisions based on how Max was feeling, rather than having a plan of what we "must" do.

Max was feeling good, so we did "the big block", up the bridleway, over the hill, down the other side, along a straight path, back up and over. As we were coming to the end of it, I wondered if rather than turning left for home, I could ask Max to go straight on over the lane and do "the triangle", that would lead us back to the same lane a little further along. He crossed the lane without hesitation, so off we went.

When we finished the triangle, I thought maybe rather than turning right for home, we'd cross over the lane again and do the smaller block. Off we went. We had trots, a wee canter, lots of great walking, one spook, one teensy nap, but basically all good and all decisions in the moment based on how willing Max was to go on.

We met a couple of other hackers while we were out as well, and no fuss from Max, he was happy to walk on and away from them. In fact with one of the horses from our yard, Max was itching to get away and get on with it!

"Bored of chat now, let's go lady!"

Then yesterday, hurrah! We had canter, canter, canter!

It is a bit lame to be so thrilled over something just about every horse person takes for granted, but Max and I broke through a barrier!

I was too stiff and sore in my back to contemplate riding, so I took Max into the school to lunge. It was overcast so the school wasn't blistering hot, and we'd had the sprinklers on, so there was no dust. I've got a timer on my mobile, so set it for ten minutes on each rein for trotting, then when timer rings, we work on transitions up and down a bit on voice, then to stand and change over reins. He was just in his Dually.

After 20 minutes of trot, I was determined to try five minutes on each rein of trying to get him into sustained canter. This has always eluded us... I either get a few steps, or one or two circles around but he never just keeps going indefinitely until I tell him not to, but just collapses back into trot and walk.

But yesterday, we did it!

Oh I had to get quite forceful, chasing after him and growling, coming in close and really upping my energy to make him up his. He was annoyed at first, and on very first attempt gave me a snort and a buck and then galloped off so that I had to let go of the line. But he stopped, I gathered him up and we tried again.

Second attempt, as soon as he got into canter I was very enthusiastic and kept after him, really chasing him on and that was it. On and on he went. Still threw me the occasional buck, but I just laughed at those and told him to cut the attitude and get on. Kept up the enthusiasm, kept up the energy and was surprised when my timer rang to tell me we'd been cantering on the left rein for five minutes!

Right rein, same thing. A bit easier to get him going without attitude because he knew what I was asking. What I noticed about right rein, though, is that his right stifle did cause him some problems and that right hind juddered quite a few times. Probably working on a circle didn't help, though was BIG circle because I was going round with him rather than standing in the centre making him go round me.

So I cut him a little bit of slack on this rein, and when he needed to come back to trot I let him. When I could feel he was ready to move up again, we did.

He's got a chiro appointment on Tuesday week, so I'll mention that to her when she does him. I do think it's always going to be a bit of a problem for him and I'll just have to stay aware of it. His left stifle hardly ever gives out on him now, but the right has always been the more pronounced problem.

It was a proper work out though. When we finished his wee nostrils were blowing, we were both in a light sweat and Max had a slightly surprised, "How the hell did that happen?" look in his eyes.

Oh, but we had a fuss, me telling him how brilliant he is, and he had a sweaty roll, then a cool hosing down and a cinnamon apple feast to finish off.

Very satisfying couple of days, and we've taken another step forward in our confidence and communication.