Max's beautiful bum...

... swaying in front of me as I long-lined him out of the school, through all the gates (waiting patiently for me to open and shut) and back into his box, past on-lookers, like a total pro!

Gosh, I love that boy of mine. Looked like he'd been doing it for years! Completely unfazed, completely confident!

So yes, we long-lined today, and pretty much did a repeat of what we did yesterday (really sharp transitions) only on the lines rather than loose.

We did a bit of work on smaller circles too, and we're still a little shambolic on that, at trot, so I just get a couple of good turns and take him back big again. Seems the best way to do it at the moment, so we don't end up in a tangle, and I can get the confused look out of Max's eyes. We can just build on that a little at a time until we look like pros at that, too!

He really did me proud today, especially with an audience.

I'd like to think that I've found some confidence within and that's what the change is, but I'm not sure I can... well, I am confident in Max, and in our growing ability to communicate. But a lot is also down to Max maturing, I think. He seems a lot more willing to work in the school than he used to. He just gets down to it, and today, he would have kept going (he tried to!) if I hadn't told him we were done.