Ready steady Max

What happens when an unsettled horse doesn't want to even leave the yard to join two others on a jolly hack? Well, he can be led out of the yard by a firm hand with rider encouragement from aboard. Then what happens when Horse A affects Horse B (already prone to bouts of irrationality) as they all head up the lane and now two horses decide it's far too frightening as they prance sideways, bumble into each other and start kicking up with their hinds?

Who shall lead them?

Max shall! And he did.

One concerned call from rider being bucked, "Can Max take the lead?"

"Course he can," I replied with confidence. We just needed to get past the commotion, and then we were off at steady pony trot, Max looking ahead with ears pricked, and the two fractious neds followed calmly and sensibly.

Yes, Max has matured naturally as he has aged, but what he's doing now, proceeding with confidence, taking the lead in company and hacking out alone sedately, in my opinion, is largely down to the time we've taken over the past two years to go slowly, to spend a lot of time on the ground together, and to try to always make it fun for both of us. Keeping in my head that I have as much to learn from Max (if not more!) than he does from me has helped, too!

I was very proud of him yesterday, not only because he led the way with no fuss, but that despite two Other Horses telling him that danger was ahead, he summed up the situation and decided that there wasn't. This doesn't mean it's time to sit back and declare us "done". Our learning together will continue for as long as we are together, just as it should in all aspects of life; we can't know it all and there are always improvements to be made, enlightenment to be shone like a torch into murky corners. Our pace won't change, though.

Slow and steady makes Max and me ready for anything.