From ghoulies and ghosties and long legged beasties...

... and things that go bump on the other side of the hedge, dear Lord, deliver Max.

The mischievous spirits are gathering for All Hallows' Eve, and today, they descended upon the head of a young pony.

I thought today Max and I would just go for a long, relaxing walk together, side by side. We set off happily enough, Max a bit grumpy but once we turned off the lane he perked up and we were moving along quite nicely, me chattering away and Max occasionally stopping to look at me. This always appears to me like a pause to say "Really? You don't say!"

Thus we were in amiable companionship when suddenly a noise from the hedge to our right, a sudden flurry, and Max lost his cool and broke away from me.

I had no thought to see what had spooked him, I just wanted him to calm down, stop and let me collect him. After my initial "Max! Max!" of surprise, I checked myself, lowered my voice a few registers and approached him slowly. He turned and allowed himself to be collected, but he was on high alert.

I turned to look back over my shoulder to see the commotion was caused by a dog, whose owner asked if we were all right. They were on slightly higher ground than us with a dense hedge between us. I suppose if I had been riding I might have seen over the hedge and been better able to prepare, but as it was, the dog was a surprise to both Max and I, and I counted myself lucky that no harm was done, and at least we weren't on the road.

We carried on, but I soon re-calculated my route realising that taking Max for long hill walks in open fields was no longer a good idea. He looked beautiful, all arched neck and prancey, but I knew he was slightly unhinged and it wouldn't take much to set him off again, and on foot over slippery ground it was unlikely that I'd be able to contain him. Why court disaster?

So we did a slightly shorter route, stuck to the bridleways, had a couple of arguments and a few more scares

"What's that?"

"Cow."

"Oh my god! What's THAT?"

"Tractor."

"In the name of all that's holy, what on earth is THAT?!"

"Sun reflecting off white plastic near more cows."

We had a little trot to work off some of Max's energy and as we turned for home he began to visibly relax. Finally the yard was in sight and then...

Bang! Rustle! Crash! Fumble!

Lost Max again. On the road this time, but luckily no cars, and being so close to home, he just hurried up the yard's back drive and turned to wait for me to join him with his eyes out on stalks.

"What is it? You're doomed! It will surely devour you. Not me though right?"

A friendly neighbour was up a tree on the other side of another hedge shaking something out of it. Apples? Birds? Sprites? Don't know, but it caused one heck of a hullabaloo, and not in a good way. The one downside of Max's bare feet is that I think sometimes people just don't hear him so don't think twice about sudden moves and loud bangs as they might if they heard a shod horse clipping along the pavement.

I collected Max again, managed to lead him (sideways, on tiptoes, nudging me towards the monster as a sacrifice) past the commotion, then finally home for his carrot stretches.

The last thing I expected today was an adventure, but sometimes adventures are thrust upon us.