130. Almost one and our five year plan!

Well I can't believe in nine days my not so little Midnight Magic will almost be one, and boy what a sweet heart he really is. This time last year I was planning on saving up, getting an older horse and having something that I could ride every day. Then came magic's baby picture, I'd read the night before about a baby that had been born out of a black mare and lippy and just from that description I knew that he was going to be the boy that I wanted. I went to see him at less than 24 hours old and I have never looked back since. There has been blood, sweat and tears, moments that I wanted to scream and give in and then days like today where I look at the bond that we have and think every single second of it was worth it. 

Now nine days away from him being one I'm planning on buying him his first bit, I want to get him an apple flavoured snaffle with a lozenge happy mouth bit. I don't see the point in getting something more complicated when at the end of the day that is what I plan on riding him in. I have no real plans for Magic, I am always going to be a dressage Diva at hear, and Magic might not be the perfect 'typical' dressage horse but I tell you what we're going to have doing whatever we decided to do, whether it's country, hacking out, pleasure rides, it doesn't matter what we do because we'll always have that bond and he will always be my baby Magic. 

So here's a rough outline of mine and Magic's plan. 

• When he turns one - Start getting him used to having a bit in, I will start by using it with baling twine and a head collar before eventually moving him on to getting his own bridle.
• When he turns two I'll start doing small bits of lunging, and possibly ground driving. I will also possibly start free schooling him at this point. 
• When he turns three - Here he will start having much more road work done, walking out, lunging and if I can find another sensible horse to do it with I might pony him (not sure if everyone will know what this mean but ride one horse while leading him out).
• Between four and five - This is where the hard work will begin, at this point he will start to be produced and bought on. I could start doing this when he was three but because of the size that magic is due to be I don't want to rush him in to anything. 

During this whole time I will continue doing lots of bits of ground work with him, hopefully take him out to a few shows every now and then. We'll do the parelli work that Magic loves and we will do lots of Monty Roberts work, now while this might not be the kind of thing that most people would chose to do for me I think it's going to be great fun, and I can't wait for magic's and mines bond to keep growing. 

But for now I'm off to bed. 

Until Next Time 

Amber and Magic