Sid and I went out with his neighbour Smartie, a big ex-event horse who's currently in training to try out for the GB TREC team. Smartie is lovely, a big softy. He and Sid stopped several times on the ride to put their faces together and really make friends, it was sweet!
Both horses were muppets, but fortunately at different times. Smartie said he had bones in his legs and couldn't walk, but Sid was happy to step out so Smartie trailed along behind. Then Sid said that every fallen tree on the Heath (there are many) was going to kill him, but Smartie said it was fine.
We even had a fantastic long canter. Smartie's sharer (another Jane) hadn't cantered him in company before, so she went ahead - he gets very competitive, apparently -with the most beautiful collected canter. He's a big, fit, athletic horse, though, so his collected canter was really quite fast. Sid didn't mind at all being behind - no suggestion that he wanted to catch up - but his little legs were going like the clappers. I stood in my stirrups, it feels so safe on Sid, and gave him all the rein he needed.
At the end Sid was in a total lather of sweat, despite yesterday's clip, and Smartie had not ONE PARTICLE of sweat marring his shiny bay coat. Er, I think my horse needs more fitness... He appreciated being sluiced down with buckets of water, though.