Hello all!
Exactly one year ago, in response to my rather desperate introduction post, MaryPoppins wrote this:
"I am sure that in 12 months time you will be cantering through the countryside in complete control."
So today I took Ziggy out for a hack on our lovely heath to see how whether we had got there. Here are the earshots to prove it!
Here he is ready to go out (sorry about the grumpy face, he hates having his picture taken):

We cantered here:

and here:

and here:

and here we did 20 strides trot, 20 strides canter, 3 times:

and we squeeeezed in a little canter here:

He was absolutely 100% good the whole way around - the odd sideways movement in canter when we passed a log, the odd look at a distant dog walker - but nothing bad at all. We cantered up to the junction where he tanked off with me once, and immediately afterwards I let him walk on the buckle and he sighed and snorted a loooong snort and strolled along.
We stopped for a 2 minute gorse break:

and when we got home there was a hideous firebreathing monster outside our field gate -

but all he did was tell me it was smelly. I took him back in and took his saddle off and after all that running about he had not got one drop of sweat on him.
So thank you for your prognostication MaryPoppins - you said we would be, and today, WE WERE!
:inlove:Ziggy:inlove:

Exactly one year ago, in response to my rather desperate introduction post, MaryPoppins wrote this:
"I am sure that in 12 months time you will be cantering through the countryside in complete control."
So today I took Ziggy out for a hack on our lovely heath to see how whether we had got there. Here are the earshots to prove it!
Here he is ready to go out (sorry about the grumpy face, he hates having his picture taken):

We cantered here:

and here:

and here:

and here we did 20 strides trot, 20 strides canter, 3 times:

and we squeeeezed in a little canter here:

He was absolutely 100% good the whole way around - the odd sideways movement in canter when we passed a log, the odd look at a distant dog walker - but nothing bad at all. We cantered up to the junction where he tanked off with me once, and immediately afterwards I let him walk on the buckle and he sighed and snorted a loooong snort and strolled along.
We stopped for a 2 minute gorse break:

and when we got home there was a hideous firebreathing monster outside our field gate -

but all he did was tell me it was smelly. I took him back in and took his saddle off and after all that running about he had not got one drop of sweat on him.
So thank you for your prognostication MaryPoppins - you said we would be, and today, WE WERE!
:inlove:Ziggy:inlove:
