Kel's backed

Well its been a long month of saddling, lunging and long reining. Kel is slowly becoming less fidgety and a little more patient - a good sign he is making the transition from baby to adult horse. His croup has risen and we're expecting another inch of growth in the next few months. He's roughly 15hh at the moment so he's going to be at least 15.1hh by the time he leaves us and perhaps 15.2hh at the most when he's finished growing. We only expected another inch but from past experience with cobs we know they usually don't really finish growing until they're about 7 or 8.
By all accounts he could have been backed a little earlier but a combination of bad weather, me being lazy and being introduced to NationalNovelWritingMonth (NaNoWriMo), I'm just a week or so behind schedule.
No matter though because he was backed this morning. After an absolute fiasco two days ago involving long reining, scary pigs and Kel bolting I wasn't wholly sure that he was ready. I walked him down past the pigs today and while he was indeed terrified, we got past them without incident. Then Peter got me on board and Kel walked around that yard like he'd done it every day of his life(Pics to come later). So a nice bottle of whisky for Peter for helping me out is in order.
Next stage will be riding on the lunge line then the round pen without a lead and then I'll set up a schooling boundary. I give it three weeks until I'm starting to school him and perhaps even his first hack in company.
Already he's tripled in worth and I could easily sell him now for £1200. But I'm in it for the long run and I won't be selling until he's had a good solid few months riding on him, has jumped a little and has seen his first show. I'm expecting about £2000 for him by the end of it, if not more considering he's such a showy boy.
Anyway, pictures will be following soon and I'll try to update you all a little more often.