Magic and I rode this morning. We worked the cavaletti on the lunge. I have a set of 3 poles set for trotting. Magic is skilled in putting his feet where he wants them. Now that he is comfortable with these poles, if he is paying attention, he places his feet precisely in the middle where they should be. The canter set-up jump has produced the correct lead several times but he is not comfortable with the situation. These poles are two strides apart, not one like the three poles. I remembered that Julian Westall said to bring this combination in gradually and that I had not allowed him to practice these two poles without the jump. So I have set the second pole on the ground. Magic did show some lack of understanding of this distance by trying to do three strides. We did do the canter setup and he took the right lead correctly and did three rounds. He has not relaxed at the canter yet and still has a little too much speed. I want to be careful and not create a problem by cantering on the lunge too much before he settles down.
We worked in the arena. I painted the marks for the 20 meter circle in the arena this morning. It was fun to ride this exercise with Magic again. We have improved.
We rode up on Shirey Mountain. Justin put a tall, about 210 feet, deer stand on a platform in the middle of the oat patch on Shirey. It has a canvas cover with widows that have flaps to cover them or hang loose like they are now. It was flapping and snapping in the wind. Magic eyed it carefully and we went on our way. Magic has confidence. I enjoy riding him.