Managed (not without a struggle) to get up and out by 8am. I decided to ride him today, taking the exact route from yesterday. As I approached the HILL OF DOOM (add your own dramatic music effects), I could see a dozen or so forest ponies milling around all the way up it. First thought was "Oh crap - I'll just turn off and avoid." Second thought was "I asked for, and got, all this advice - get on with it woman!" Started singing, mostly for my own benefit, and bit the bullet. He stopped at the bottom, mainly to look at the ponies, then much to my relief, with a lot of legging on, went, oh so slowly up, despite ponies on both sides. Didn't dare stop halfway to praise him, but gave him a bucketful of praise when we got to the top. So, from this little success, onward and upward (literally!) I'll give him a normal hack tomorrow, and we'll go again on Thursday. Thank you everyone!