I've only ridden Magic once since my last post due to more snow. We only messed about in a field and he got very very excited but did work nicely for a little bit although he did refuse to lead with his left leg in canter until he'd settled down a bit. Even though getting him to round was a little difficult he had plenty of impulsion.


Today I lunged him as he's been kept in for a while due to the snow as I thought he might have a little too much energy. I was right. Magic spent the first 5 minutes cantering then the next few minutes bouncing around before settling down to do some really really nice work in his pessoa (which was fitted after his broncing session). As soon as it was fitted he relaxed and worked properly with no fighting and even did some nice stretching on both reins which is showing that his back and neck muscles are getting stronger. The imbalance of his muscles can be clearly seen when he's lunged in the pessoa. There is a lot of muscle definition on the right side of his neck but next to none on his left. Hopefully with regular pessoa sessions that will start to even up.

I've hardly ridden over the last week which means Magic is enjoying a bit of a holiday. It's either been raining, too icy or I've been busy with one thing or another. I think I've schooled him once and lunged once. He's going very nicely when lunged, holding himself constantly and working over his back and he seems to be getting more even on both reins now which is good. I think the stretches I've been doing with him in his stable have helped a fair bit. Plus he enjoys doing them as he gets treats. Ridden work is still a bit off. Mostly trot work, walk and canter are improving all the time. He's progressed to being able to do a 10 metre half circle to the middle of the school, do a few strides of trot then pick up canter again to change the rein while getting the correct leads. We also tried walk to canter but we aren't quite there yet. He's still doing about 5 or 6 strides of trot before cantering and he's running a little but the canter he does do after isn't too bad and definitely not rushed or flat. We only tried walk to canter for about 10 minutes as I could tell he was getting a little stressed at not being able to do what I asked. The ears were going back and he was swishing his tail a fair bit so I left it and let him stretch in trot to cool off. The main thing is that he tries hard.

Magic has been very happy in his field the last couple of days. The two herds have merged while the drainage is improved in the lower field so he has a few new friends to play with. Yesterday he went out like a rocket, galloped up to his field gate and got bored when he had to wait for me to catch up so did a nice extended trot up and down the fence with a bit of bouncy canter and a few bucks added in for good measure. When I got to the gate he bounced around me before waiting patiently while I opened it wide enough for his to get through then galloped off flat out while throwing in enormous fly bucks just because he can. It's actually quite worrying seeing how big he can buck.

Today he was a little more sedate until his field mates joined him. Then he had a good rug pulling and rearing session with his friends and when they got bored he reared and bounced around on the spot for a while before settling down to eat. What's really nice to see is him actually cantering when he plays now rather than just extending his trot to keep up. Also his canter is now roughly the same pace as the other horses so he can canter along with them rather than trotting. It made me happy to watch him.

Before I start any more serious work with him again I'll be getting his saddle looked at and most likely reflocked as he's developed a hard lump on the left side of his back about half an inch away from his spine. He sometimes gets similar lumps when ridden in the summer due to him getting a little hot under his saddle pad but that hasn't been happening recently.

Can't or won't do it?

Finally got back on board today after around a week off. Just 20 minutes in a still partly frozen arena but better than nothing. Did roughly the same warm up as the last time I rode Magic but included more rein back as he was argumentative about it. Tried a few walk pirouettes as he could do them in the summer but then forgot how when he learn't to turn on the forehand both ways. Pretty typical of Magic to unlearn one thing when he learns something new. He's always been like that, doesn't usually take him long to remember he can do something.

Today he forgot to work in an outline in trot, or he was refusing to. I'm still not sure which but no matter how much I asked or in what way I asked he said no 90% of the time. I did get a few strides of trot in an outline but nothing compared to what he was giving me a couple of months ago. It could be down to a few things, he's either tweaked something in his back again, he's fighting against his drop noseband (even though it's not tight) or it's because the last two nights he's been fed from a haynet as someone else has been looking after him over the weekend which would involve him using the huge muscles under his neck that I've been working to get rid of for months. He can still work in an outline when working in his Pessoa so I'm not convinced that he's tweaked something. I thought it may be that his back isn't strong enough to lift with me on board but he's worked well with me riding before so I don't think that's the reason. Next time I ride I'll put his crank noseband on without the flash to see if he'll relax more.

I'm praying it's not a saddle issue too, my current saddle was/is my birthday/early Christmas present and it's the saddle I've wanted for Magic for the last 3 years. His newly improved canter work and almost consistent walk outline makes me think it isn't saddle related though.

Today Magic's canter was even better than the last time we schooled. It seemed to be even more relaxed, balanced and much slower. I've watched some old videos and it feels like it would look a thousand times better if I videoed it now.

Touch wood his bending to the left has improved slightly too.

Snow

Well Magic and me spent our whole week either lunging or schooling so we'd improved by the time it came to doing our dressage tests on the Sunday. We ended up not going. It had been -8°C over night and the diesel in the lorry had frozen so it wouldn't start. At least it gives us more time to work on things before the next competition in January.

We had the best canter we've had yet (in the area) on the Saturday though. We were sharing the area with another horse so schooled on a circle to stay out of the way. Magic's outline was a bit hit and miss but he was really forward going which was nice. Warmed up doing rein back, turn on the forehand, loads of transitions and squares where I'd collect him in the corners get him really stepping under. Asked for canter after doing this in walk and trot and he just popped into it. He was much more balanced and steady than the day before, not quite sure what had changed since then but hopefully it's a permanent change.

Unfortunately we've had a fair bit of snow and the temperature hasn't risen to more than 1°C or 2°C in the day so we can't hack out and the school is pretty solid too. Something always manages to happen when we've made a bit of progress!