I took Ace out for a hack this afternoon to give him a break and see how he behaved. He was very perky, and more forward than he has been out on a hack lately. He certainly seems to be feeling well now that he is fit and fed properly. His feet have completely stopped splitting at the bottom edge, which is what I was hoping for.

He has a character that I have never dealt with before. There is no doubt that he is incredibly oversensitive to little irritations, but he is also in a feisty-fives stage where he is seeing what he can get away with. I have to find a balance between making it clear what he has to do, without allowing him to get into a fight with me, or fling himself around like the pictures you've seen. He's an interesting challenge at the moment.

I schooled Jazz but we were out there hardly any time, because after warming up  he gave me the most super half pass left in trot that he has ever done, and I stopped straight away. I came off the corner on the left rein, into shoulder in, and when his shoulders were pointing at the far corner I kept them going straight forward, while asking for travers with the back end. And it clicked mentally what I wanted, and over he went in half pass. Fantastic!

Ace turned on the tap in the barn this afternoon. Luckily we were home and I heard the pump going, so I checked the house for things using water and could find none. So I went outside and there he was looking at the puddle and saying "hey, isn't that great? Did I do that??"  So SH has had to put a plate over the tap now, to stop him doing it again. He is SO nosy, you can't leave anything within reach of him!!

The Butkins is in  a very cute phase too. He keeps coming to me, even leaving food, for me to stroke his face, massage his lips, or scratch his shoulders and back. He's such a sweet chap for a Shetland, who have a reputation for cheek not cuddles.

C