Canter, canter, canter

An empty field next to the indoor school beckoned. The lovely “long field” that up until this past weekend has been occupied by a grazing horse during the day. It’s free now though, and has such a lovely slope, so Max and I took advantage of the dry weather to have a little outdoor fun.

I was on yard shift and pressed for time, so thought rather than a rushed hack, we could stay close to home and still do something useful.

We started off in the school to warm up, and then into the field to trot around the fence line, then canter, canter, canter up the hill. Max was wayward, insisted on a diagonal rather than straight up, but he went forward eagerly, whilst I lifted myself slightly out of the saddle to give him freedom and not unbalance him. I still find my back troublesome and less flexible than I would like, and I find absorbing the movement of canter quite challenging. Much better to hold myself away from Max so he doesn’t have to absorb my flailing movement while I’m trying to absorb his.

He had a few goes and nipping at the grass, but was easily dissuaded, and he found an old feed bowl with some feed still in it as surely and quickly as Sherlock Holmes finds a clue but we got round that one as well.

Very good fitness/strengthening work for Max with the slope, very good pointer to me of where I still need work and where I’m still stiff (I can feel yesterday’s efforts in my mid-back today) and wonderful to see and feel that our concentrated work in the school over the past few months is progressing to ridden work very nicely indeed.

Max was a little full of himself to say the least, and he had some pretty strong ideas of his own (and that’s fine, I never want him to lose his mischief or his opinion) but best of all, Max is listening and he showed me yesterday that when he’s not sure he heard me right, he cocks an ear back and asks for clarification. No whip, no stick, no spurs necessary.

Of course, he wouldn’t be Max if he didn’t occasionally meet my request with a head shake, a snort and an implied “Nah, you don’t want to do that, you want to do THIS!”

Even then, despite any laughter that might erupt from me, when I insist, he figuratively rolls he eyes and gives in.

Clever, singular, brilliant pony!