Last night Horus was running around a stable yard with about 30 ponies and horses, off lead and without a care in the world. He was quite happy to run up and down the barns, under the noses of the ponies, not bothered at all. He even picked up the courage to go into a stable and say hello to one pony! He went round and found the ducks but just watched them, didn't stalk or chase, and came with me with just an incline of my head, not even a hand signal needed. He kept coming back to see where I was, then went off to have a play with the other dog that was with us, have a sniff around, lick up some soya oil, then back to me. After 10mins or so he just stayed with me of his own accord while I was filling water buckets and doing hay. There was no panic, no stress, a little excited at it all in his eyes but I was just so amazed. I don't know what made me try it, but we were down there doing late feeds, just me and a friend and the other dog, the gates were all shut, and he has been fine with all the horses this year when we were competing.
This is such a big thing, partly because it just shows how chilled out he really is and how far he has come, and how confident he is in himself and in me. But also because at some point I will have my own ponies again, and hopefully my own little yard, and it means there is a good chance that he will be allowed to come down and just be a yard dog with me. It means I don't need to keep him away from everything all the time, because he is ready to cope with it. And it means all my work with livestock training has really paid off.
I could have cried last night, just so, so happy and amazed. Not a day I thought I would ever see
