Over the next year Hummy filled out grew up a bit physically and mentally and generally came out of his shell as he grew in confidence. He was the perfect gentleman on the ground but very much a baby still under saddle and needed time to mature still. So schooling sessions remained short as we tried to build some muscle over a pretty weak topline. We went to our first show in the summer, just a local pony club event and did some in hand classes and came in third! He was the perfect gent even though his eyes stood out on stalks at first he soon settled and was perfectly obedient. In the Autumn we decided to try an organised ride out approx 10 miles, though as long or short as you wanted. He was obedient but this was a different horse, fired up and exited running on adrenalin for the entire ride. (There were about 40 horses on this ride going out in groups of 5 to 8). He obviously needed to see the world a bit more so we boxed out to several more organised rides and he just got better and better, calmer and calmer especially when my daughter was with us with one of his field mates. However, he had started to test me now on several occasions including one of these rides where when something phased him he would stop and rear.... Without making an issue of it i knew that our schooling was lacking and i was aware that we had issues with leadership, he was finding it difficult to work long and low especially in canter which was very one sided. He was quite happy and obedient to pace with the lightest contact but was backing off even my lightest hand when i asked for more. It was time to seek some help and have some much needed lessons now that he was rising 5 and more mature in himself.
In steps my dressage instructor and over the next year we made fabulous progress but our relationship was suffering. He would run away when ever he saw the trailer (that meant we were going for a lesson) he was becomming difficult to catch and his sense of fun was missing. Whether this was because we were asking for more or because he was mourning the loss of my dear old partner (also the herd boss) or just that he was getting bored with the repetition i dont know but i did know that we needed to improve our relationship.
