Cross country does the dressage pony some good

Magic enjoyed his day out on Saturday. Well mostly. He enjoyed standing at the lorry eating with his new best friend and he enjoyed the slices of bread I was feeding him. He even enjoyed the warm up fences and got on with his job perfectly. What he didn't enjoy was his new best friend leaving him or having to leave his new best friend. He was fine while he was moving and had work to do but as soon as he had time to think about being alone he got very very stressed. There was a long wait after warming up and even though there were plenty of other horses stood around quietly my little pony just couldn't think straight. His mind seemed totally blown. All he could do was walk backwards. In the end I got off and let him eat. He seemed to calm down after about 10 minutes but before that it was like he couldn't think straight. I think I need to get him out more. Once a year isn't enough. On the plus side he really enjoyed his round. He went clear and didn't look at anything. We did however manage to smash the optimum time of 2:05 and do it in 1:17... Oops.

I gave him Sunday off so he could chill in the field. On Monday I lunged with draw reins over his back to his bit. Usually he isn't overly keen on this but thought I'd give it another go. He went beautifully. Really lifting his back and stretching down and round. Very pleased with the boy.

Yesterday I schooled. Used the spurs again. He seemed really really sensitive to them and even gave a little kick when I used them as if to say "oi! I'm responsive enough thank you very much". After that I only have to use slight pressure from my calf, even when doing leg yield on both reins. We also had the best canter we've had yet. It wasn't totally round but it was steady and collected. Hopefully he'll continue to improve and I can work on getting him to round in canter too. Even the downwards transitions to trot were smooth and he didn't attempt to hollow. Even more pleased with the boy.

Ok so im a bit late on doing on update on the vogue saddle but I've been a bit busy with work and stuff. Plus clipping Magic's
Legs :D

Firstly I noticed its quite a heavy saddle but not too heavy. Just more so than my tiny Jessica saddle. Magic didn't seem to mind it being girthed up even though he pulls faces sometimes with his treed saddle. It sat very much on top of him but I've heard they can take a while to mould to different horses. I was having to try it with my normal stirrups as I don't own any webbers which meant the buckles were digging into my thighs but the seat was comfortable. I did find the twist too wide for my hips and because of this felt quite insecure in the saddle. I found I had to take my stirrups up several holes but I don't think it was because of the set back bars as I've ridden with these before and actually prefere it. I should probably try it again when I've bought some webbers but at the moment I don't have the spare money to buy any so it will have to wait.

Yesterday was an interesting day. we had perfect walk, trot, leg yield and rein back, all perfectly round and working from behind. However magic had forgotten how to canter and I'd forgotten how to ride. Abandoned the schooling session and went for a quick hack down the road. I've noticed magics stifle slipping again, I lost count of the amount of times it happened just walking down the road yesterday. I'll be getting a physio out to him when I can. I'm not too worried yet as it isn't happening in the school *touch wood*

Today I decided to try schooling again. I swapped my dressage whip for spurs today in case I'd forgotten how to ride again and therefor would have less to hold. Started the same as yesterday with lots of transitions which went well. He'd been in all day so started off a bit nosey but he settled pretty quickly. Tried to add in trot canter trot transitions but they were pretty terrible. Walk to canter actually went a bit better so did walk canter trot walk, this seemed to help him slow his canter down but what I found really helped was walk to canter and then taking a slightly forward, light seat. He was really steady and felt quite balanced so I'll be doing this and slowly sitting back into the saddle. He worked hard today so he can have a day off tomorrow.

Lately with increased work I've Magic's shoulders have been getting bigger. They tend to push his saddle about a bit and although it doesn't seem to bother him it's something he's put up with pretty much all of his ridden life. GP and jumping saddles have always been pushed about, his dressage saddle was fine to start with but he's bulked up and now that gets in the way too.

After lots of thinking I decided to have a little look to see what saddles were available for big shoulders. I very luckily came across a Heather Moffett Vogue dressage saddle for sale at a very very good price and snapped it up quickly. It arrived this afternoon and hopefully I'll be trying it out tomorrow and will do a post on it then.

I'm quite excited about it!

Transitions, transitions, transitions!

They really do work!

Started magic off with a stretchy but round walk followed by trot where I picked him up a bit (he still finds it very hard to stretch in trot but we're working on it) , threw in a few leg yields on each rein and even managed one across the entire width of the school without loosing his back end. Followed this with a couple of rein backs which are coming on nicely then started to walk trot walk transitions. This livened him up nicely so started doing halt trot halt transitions with the odd rein back to trot. He was lovely to ride, a little strong and heavy in the downwards transitions but this improved the more we did.

Did a few circles in canter on each rein after and he was much better than yesterday. Seemed to be sat back more and he was a lot slower than yesterday. He was also more 'up' in front.

Now I just need to work on getting trot to canter and canter to trot transitions sharper so I can add those in to really get him working properly.

An interesting couple of days

Yesterday magic was an angel to school. He worked well in all 3 paces but what really impressed me was his attempt at baby shoulder in. It's the first time i've ever asked for it and he really tried for me. Rein back while staying round is improving too.

Today was a slightly different story. He stretched in walk and trot nicely to start off with then did some nice 'proper' trot work. Canter transitions on the other hand were useless. He reverted back to running into canter and rushing. The first canter was actually quite nice even after a horrible transition but after that he just wanted to bomb about. I could get him to round with a stronger contact but he was more interested in tanking off with me. The situation wasn't helped by the ex racer in the field having a strop because he was turned out along but it shouldn't have mattered, he's old enough to concentrate on his work rather than what's going on around him. I tried getting him to canter over a single pole in the middle of the school but this just made him stronger and faster with an added extended stride over the pole. I think once we have both learned to contain his canter it should be something quite special. There is a lot of power there.

Finished on a good note with some very nice trot leg yields away from the track to the centre line. He seems to find it easier to step under himself than in walk. .

Transitions, transitions and more transitions next session I think.

So once again I've been unbeleivably useless at updating this.

The last 7 months have been full of ups and downs for magic and me. We've made massive amounts of progress only to go backwards and have to learn all over again. He's gone through stages of showing what a brilliant pony he can be. His canter work was good and he was holding himself then he'd regress and at times both canter and trot went out of the window.

For now he's excelling himself. But just two weeks ago I wondered if someone had swapped him for another horse. He wouldn't round even in walk, his trot wasn't relaxed and he'd tense and just run. Canter was dreadful, super fast and he was bucking when I asked for it. It was at this point I realised just how sensitive magic really is.

He'd been getting quite strong when hacking, both alone and in company, so I changed his nose band from a crank cavesson to a drop. I had the drop made for him a couple of years ago so it fits him perfectly. At first his school work didn't change but after a few sessions he became a bit stiff in his neck and wouldn't round. Figured it might be worth trying his new bridle on him, a dhh Renoir, it's a beautiful bridle and the padding should make it super comfortable. Tried it with the flash at first for added breaks. Magic hated it, he just wouldn't work properly or concentrate. So I tried it without the flash the next day, slight improvement but not much. Finally gave in after one more try and put his old bridle back on. Seems its quite clear which his favourite is so I won't be switching bridles again unless I really have to.

In our last schooling session we had a first. Magic managed to canter over a pole on both reins and even when he misjudged it a little he still managed to sort his legs out and stay in canter. Big achievement considering what his canter used to be like.

Once again I've been massively lazy when it's come to updating here. In fact I haven't really updated anywhere else either.

After reading through my last post I realise that I've actually achieved both goals with Magic. He's both much more forward in the school and canter really seems to have clicked in the last week, so much so that he's doing simple changes with trot in the middle of the school and getting the lead right every time until he gets a little tired and walk to canter is coming along nicely too.

He carries himself consistently in walk and trot now but as canter is new to him he still needs a little help. I've been using loose draw reins on him for canter work so that when he comes completely above the bit they come into effect and he drops into a lovely outline, he's not forced there, he's offering a nice relaxed outline with the draw reins loose. He also seems to have grown up a little lately and is letting me use a schooling whip without bucking. I'm no longer using the spurs for now. After the first session of carrying a whip he no longer tries to break canter and now I'm only carrying it to improve his reactions in transitions especially halt to trot and walk to canter. I'm hoping that once he masters walk to canter I can start on halt to canter. I'm also trying for a bit of collection in the canter in corners which is coming along nicely. All in all I'm very prod of the boy this week.

Big update

Argh it's been ages since I updated this *hangs head in shame*

Since my last update Magic has been XC and enjoyed every moment of it. We did the 2ft6 class which is the biggest we've ever competed. He hadn't jumped since October so I was a little concerned but I shouldn't have been worried. My little star tanked me round a very up to height course of fairly scary jumps and didn't look at a single thing. In fact he was too keen and jumped an extra jump getting us eliminated when we would have been placed in the time we finished in but an extra jump is far better than a refusal or run out so I can't complain.

The time off work clearly did him the world of good schooling-wise too. He seems far more flexible and willing to work round and hold himself. His outline is consistent in walk and trot and coming along nicely in the small amount of canter we do.

Out hacking when we aren't doing fast work he is still asked to work in an outline and does a fair amount of collected trot work to build some back and bum muscle. He gets to do short bursts of medium trot too which he enjoys and shows it by getting really strong. The collected work seems to have had an impact on how relaxed he is in his neck in trot. He's always had a tense neck in trot which has meant he's found it very hard to work round but lately when I've asked him to stretch he's offered some nice long and low work in trot while staying round and is super responsive when asked to leg yield in trot backwards and forwards across the road so I couldn't be happier with him in that respect.

He's slightly less forward in the school but he always has been. Canter still needs a lot of work as he struggles to maintain it and also right lead takes a bit of time to get. He's still quite unbalanced and so am I in canter so I'm not really helping him. I realised after my schooling session on Monday that I've never really asked him to maintain canter on the lunge, because I know he finds it hard work I've only ever made him do a circle or two at a time so while he can canter for a good mile at his own pace in a straight line out on a hack, he finds it difficult to keep cantering in a small enclosed area and even more so on a circle. On Tuesday I started work on this by lunging him mainly in canter. He had a good warm up in walk and trot and then did about 15-20 minutes working on canter and walk to canter. He's getting quite good at it after he gets over being a stress head about it.

I'm going to be working on his canter, my balance and getting him more responsive in the school over the next few weeks.

Since Magic was on box rest for his knee injury we really seem to have bonded. I've had him nearly 5 years now and while we've gotten on fairly well the last 3 1/2 of those it wasn't until he spent so much time we me without contact with other horses that we really clicked. Now he's very protective of me in the field and even stands up to horses that are above him in the herd while I'm around. He's become more affectionate and today he let me trim his beard with the clippers when normally he hates being clipped. He even let me trim all his whiskers and above his eyes. When I put him back out in the field I gave him the usual mushy speech about how I love him and how he should try not to get hurt, patted him and kissed his nose and he nuzzled my arm, usually he only does that when I've found an exceptionally itchy spot. After that he watched me walk back up the field before running off bucking. I do love my boy <3

Back to work

Magic is finally back in work after being turned out for just under a week and so far so good. He did 4 days in a row and then I was ill over the weekend so he's just had two days off.

First day I rode him in the school as it was the place with the softest landing, I wasn't sure if I'd be sitting on a rocket. He was perfect though, not a single sign of misbehaving apart from a slight lack of steering and not wanting to canter a whole circle but that's easily fixed. He surprised me and worked really well considering all the time he's had off, didn't take much to get him to work over his back and round.

Second day I took him out for a short hack, he was really well behaved again. Had a short canter because he felt like he wanted to.

Third day I lunged him. Used side reins instead of his pessoa for the first time in almost a year. He seemed to get the idea of what they were for this time rather than ignoring them and did some nice work.

On the 4th day I was going to take him to the station again but he took us in the canter field and walked away from home instead of turning for home which he has been known to do so I knew he wanted to do some fast work. Got to the long side of the field and let him do what he wanted. If he'd just walked that would have been fine with me. He trotted a little then went into canter. We had a nice steady canter along the whole long side of the field with hardly any contact on his mouth so he knew he could do what he wanted. I let him stop when he wanted and didn't push him on at all so we trotted down the short side and cantered back along the other long side. His breathing returned to normal fairly quickly so he hasn't lost too much fitness during his time off. His knee was also normal when we got back to the yard.

I've cold hosed his knee a couple of times after our rides just to be on the safe side but so far he seems pretty normal.

He's also living out 24/7 now and he's loving it. He's started to get a bit snotty in his stable and I was finding lumps of it on the floor so living out is best for him after so much time in.

3 days to go...

... and the knee is still swollen. I also know Magic hasn't lay down for the last 6 days since his knee was first painful for him. Yesterday I added a load of fresh shaving to his bed as I know how much he loves to roll in a new bed and no matter how hard he tried he just couldn't get down. He kept groaning in pain and eventually gave up and came to me for cuddles.

He was in a much better mood about staying in today though and even stood still while I gave him a good groom. I think he appreciated the attention and extra treats.

I'll try to remember to get some photos of him tomorrow.

6 days box rest

My poor baby has done something to his left knee. It's hot and swollen and even with 3 days of box rest it didn't go down and he was getting more and more lame and had developed lameness behind and was very reluctant to walk out of his stable which is so unlike him so last night I called the vet. She was concerned that with 3 days box rest and cold hosing the swelling, heat and lameness hadn't gone. What was also worrying was that he was now lame behind and showing signs of tying up including tight muscles on his quarters and muscle tremors even though he's done no exercise for about a week.

She injected him with a strong pain killer and anti inflammatory, said to keep him in for another 6 days and has given me bute to give him in the morning and evening. If, after the 6 days are up, he's still got heat/lameness then he has to go for x-rays to see if they can see what's wrong.

After his bute he's more or less sound but the swelling/heat still hasn't gone at all and he's definitely not right but fingers crossed it goes back to normal before the 6 days are up.

Terrible schooling sessions, lots of fast work and prelim 14

Decided last minute to take Magic to do prelim 14 which left me a week to get his schooling back to where it had been before the bad weather. Whenever he's had a break from regular schooling, even if it's just a week or so, he tends to have a really really bad day. Monday was no exception. He's hanging on the left rein terribly so is constantly looking to the right when he's supposed to be bending left. He also ignores my left leg which makes any attempt to bend him around it impossible.

Decided to give up on the schooling for that week so lunged him once and worked him long and low. He seemed to enjoy himself and was very active and stretched nicely. I knew I was in for an interesting week when his breathing was normal after 20 minutes of mostly trot and canter.

After that we've just hacked out and I've made sure he always gets to canter so he can get rid of some excess energy and burn off his winter tummy. He surprised me with how fit he seems to be, we did a fair bit of fast work and he seemed to find it easy. Took things slightly easier on Saturday and Magic got to play in the ford to wash off his legs and tail since he still doesn't really like the hose and paddling in the ford is much more fun.

I was very proud of Magic on Sunday. He loaded straight away into a lorry he'd never been in before and didn't turn and get back off again. He travelled well and hardly sweated up on the way there. Got him off the lorry and he stood while I tacked him up and then calmly walked to the warm up area. He had a good look about and was strong to canter at first but after a while he settled and worked in an outline for a short while, had a couple of nice canters and then it was time for our test. We walked over to the indoor with a friend and her horse and waited outside while she did her test. Magic was a bit fidgety at first but didn't do anything bad. Went in for our turn and he was a little on edge but didn't show any signs of doing anything nasty like bucking. Didn't spook at the judges in the box or horses walking past the area at head height, the only thing he did was nap a little by the area gate as he could see his friend but he only did it once. His test of a little too fast but he did everything I asked including getting the right canter leads even though he was obviously nervous. Even his circles were quite accurate. To my surprise we came 4th out of 6 and got some helpful comments from the judges.



Since then we've just been having more fun hacking. Magic has been enjoying himself a bit too much and has been very strong and wanting to canter everywhere. I think we are getting spring grass early.

It feels like forever since I've done any proper schooling (where he suddenly perfected rein back) with Magic but I'll have to fit some in between the rain we keep having as we're hopefully off to do two dressage tests on the 23rd. A walk and trot and prelim 14. I can't remember either of them and I've got just over a week to learn them. Should be fun.

I've lunged Magic once since my last update I think, had one very short session in the school and before that he's only been on a short hack. I'm hoping to bring him back into full work this week weather etc. permitting. I want to concentrate on his fitness as well as how he holds himself while ridden.

He still isn't straight while ridden or lunged. On a loose rein while hacking it's hardly noticeable but as soon as he's asked to work properly he hangs to the left quite badly although he did manage some nice long and low work in trot briefly.

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!

Where to start... We've had some fairly terrible schooling sessions lately during which Magic totally forgot he could bend left and also seemed incapable of working in an outline in trot even for a few seconds. Canter on the other hand has improved quite a lot so I can't really complain.

I've been riding Magic in an almost constant long and low frame even when hacking to help build his top line muscles. He finds it very very easy in walk but he's not quite strong enough to work long and low in trot just yet and his first reaction when going in to trot is to stick his head in the air. I can get him to lower it again but only if I almost totally drop the contact for a bit and ask again. He's pretty much the same when lunged. He'll work in a fairly low frame in trot but if he gets his head up I have to bring him back to walk and ask for trot again when he's relaxed his neck. He finds it much easier on the right rein than the left.

I have 3 days left to prepare for dressage on Sunday. A walk and trot (that I still can't remember) and prelim 7. Magic still needs his mane thinned out and more importantly I need to make sure I can plait. Also his legs are only clipped to his knees and hocks as he hates being clipped so I'm hoping that my tiny trimmers will take some more hair off so I can just leave his feather to make him look more presentable.

Fingers crossed everything goes smoothly and that Magic doesn't buck or rear and I can remember both tests by then and that I don't forget them while we're in the arena!

Dressage in the dark

So it seems the key to a well behaved, forward going pony is schooling in the dark.

I'm very lucky that there is a floodlit school at the yard as Magic seems to go best when the fields are so dark that he can no longer see what's going on.

After a quite frustrating half hour last week where all he wanted to do was canter at speed and scary angles around corners it was nice to have a calm pony. I rode in spurs for the first time in almost a year (apart from 5 minutes when we first moved home where he clearly wasn't happy with them that day) and he accepted that I was wearing them and after a few swishes of his tail listened to exactly what I was saying.

I asked for lots of rein back, turn on the forehand and leg yield as a warm up again and then asked him to work round almost straight away. If I let him have his head to start with he thinks he can go the whole half hour with his head in the air. We had some lovely trot work and probably the best medium we've had in the school so far. He's usually not thinking forward enough or using himself enough so it's something we've been working on while hacking where he's naturally forward going. Sometimes his transition to medium is so powerful I momentarily get left behind.

After lots of rein back his canter tends to improve a fair bit and slows down enough that he's not motorbiking around corners in the school. He's still better on his left rein than his right but that's understandable as he went months not being able to canter on the right lead due to tight muscle in his back. He's still a lot weaker that side which also shows up as not being able to hold himself on the left rein while bending so his nose pokes a little but he's improving all the time.

I've also been working a lot on our canter while hacking and We've been making the most of the softer ground and having lots of long canters around the outside of big fields. There are a couple within ten minutes ride from the yard and they are doing wonders for Magic's fitness.

I have noticed that I'm going to need to give him his third clip in as many months by about mid November. He was very very sweaty by the time we got back to the yard and he hasn't even regrown much of his full clip yet!

I've mostly hacked Magic out since our lesson, in fact I think he's only set foot in the school maybe 5 times since then and I think only two of those sessions were proper flat work sessions. I've lunged him in his fake Pessoa a couple of times and we had a short jumping session (in a borrowed saddle) where he didn't get excited and didn't pull me into the jumps, cue me worrying. He always pulls me into jumps even if he's going to stop when he gets to them.

We did a hunter trial the day after which I didn't need to worry about, there was no sign of bucking or rearing. The only problem was that he still wasn't pulling me into jumps and when we do cross country this is totally unlike Magic. I always have no breaks and I like it that way. Instead he was looking at every single jump when he got to it, again really unlike him. He always looks at the first two or three than realises what he's supposed to do and then tanks off round the course. He's fairly fit so that wasn't the problem either.

I upped his feed the day after and so far he seems a little more awake when working.

Our last flat work session was interesting. I haven't schooled him properly for a few weeks and he seemed to have forgotten a lot of what he knew before. With Magic this means he's trying to find out what he can get away with not doing. Picked up my schooling whip and he was instantly more willing for forwards without even touching him with it. He even felt the need to do laps of the school at a very fast canter while i had no breaks so I decided to do some rein back and turn on the forehand to get him focused. After that we did some nice collected and medium trot work before having a much steadier canter on each rein.

He does seem to have forgotten that he can bend to the left but hopefully it won't be too long before he realises he can do it. His back is due for a check up so I'll be asking why he finds it hard to relax his neck on that rein both ridden and on and lunge.

Lastly here is a video still of Magic doing extended trot. Just need to find the right buttons so i can ask for it now!