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!