May.

May officially turned a year old in June, and since then she's hit a bit of a growth spurt. Actually, every day for her is a day where she seems to have grown bigger, and bigger, and even taller, too. Along with this height has come a very comical adolescent attitude, making our time together both hilarious and incredibly frustrating. While I'm still overcoming my issues in leadership, she's overcoming her kicked in instincts as a mare. Her personality is practically bursting at the seams, and even when I've about had it with her stubbornness, she always manages to crack me up.

Anyway, I'll be writing more about our new dynamic, and all of the victories and challenges it's brought to the table a little later. For now I just thought that I'd share some images that were taken by a friend a few months ago while I was working with May. Amanda managed to capture her goofy spirit and our growing bond, as well as an action shot that left me beaming.

Note: During this particular session, May and I were syncing our foot steps so that we were walking at the same pace, matching our feet to the other. After a few dozen laps, she started to slow when I slowed, speed up whenever I quickened our pace, and she stopped whenever I did. The coolest part of this was when she started to match her breathing to mine, and would sigh when I sighed, yawn when I yawned, and relaxed when I relaxed. That took much longer to get to, but when it finally happened I was ecstatic. Ecstatic and amazed, and bewildered, and humbled, and extremely happy.

And finally, a happy horse after a happy training session. I hope that you enjoyed Amanda's pictures. I'll be writing an actual update about May and I in a few days that sort of goes over all of our progress for the last few weeks. Until then, have a great week!