It has been a few days of groundwork ,in the round pen, and exercising for Charlie in the sand arena. His progress is awesome, as we work on the basics of soft feel, flexion and circles. Although this may sound quite repetitive to some, any horse person will know that these basic passes are fundamental foundations to all we will do together. Having said that, a field trip was always a nice distraction at school and I think this goes the same for both horse and rider. They say a change is as good as a rest, so a change of scenery was in order. 
We are lucky to have a large area away from the arenas and stables, with enough open space and wooded cover in equal measure, where you can feel as if you are in a whole different place, exposing both horse and rider to new experience, but still be close if a young horse gets a little “lost” . It was time to see how Charlie coped with this new situation.
As to be expected there was a fair bit of snorting and chest expanding, and I could feel the excitement building in him as he explored this new environment. I had to turn him a few times as he got distracted by the horizon, but he was never silly. Only once did he jump to the side, as the corrugated tin roof of the hay store lifted and dropped down in the wind. But I let him take a good look at it and did not rush him off.
When I felt him relax, assured that it was not about to attack him, I encouraged him off to continue our short but incredibly important expedition.
Another milestone achieved.
