Hacked Giant out down Harakeke Rd, it was such a beautiful still day, (the first t-shirt day we've had in ages :D) so the thing on the road that scared him last time wasn't a problem, we trotted straight down all the nice verges, walked down the new road and then up the hill. They are starting to put in driveways to new sections and the fence that was there is down, so we went for an explore.

Giant isn't the best choice of horse for riding through a forest! Hes much too tall, which made it a little more difficult, but we still had a nice ride, just had to be really careful going down the hills, that he didn't run down under the trees, but he was pretty good with that. We couldn't really go too far, the fences into the paddocks are still up, but was a good ride anyway.

Gave Harry a good warm up in nice big circles, I think I said last time that being older he takes longer to warm up than the others, and I don't think the cold helps him, even today when it was warmer he still feels it. So a couple of laps walk, then trotting lots of big circles and shapes on a longish rein until he feels good.

Then back to walk to practise our shoulder in, he was better today, stepping away from the leg rather than getting faster and his flexion was better, although the can't hold it for very long. Over trotting poles he was really good, suprisingly careful (I thought he might trip a bit). These will be good for strengthening him a bit and hopefully help with his tripping. Just have to be careful with him that he doesn't change his rhythm on the approach, he wants to quicken, I know his type...

Hes very good over the little cross rail, just trots down and pops over, he will be good for you to have a practise on. His first canter trans is always so good, before hes had a chance to think about it. Although the other ones weren't as tension free, he still got it right much more easily. Interestingly he prefers to land from the jump on his difficult lead.