If you are forced to do a five mile hack on an arena, with one mile at trot and one at canter in each direction, then you really could not ask for a better horse to do it on than Radar. You set him going, and  he keeps going, and going, until you tell him to stop. Pretty much all you have to do is sit there and hold the reins. I didn't even have a whip, it is buried somewhere in a snowdrift :)

In the unlikely event that we get to the meet on Saturday, at least he will be halfway fit enough. I was glad that I felt forced to get out there in the cold and wind, because I actually thoroughly enjoyed myself. It was so cold, though, that when I stripped his rug off to tack him up, Radar started to shiver. Since he's actually put on a little weight during the cold break from work, it wasn't lack of food making him cold.

His work has improved beyond belief almost. OK it took four years, but his transitions are really getting quite good, up and down. He has canter/walk and walk/canter, and the trot transitions are now more often an upward step instead of our customary headlong dash. I'm going to carry on getting him going in a snaffle once the weather warms up again, and then we'll see whether he can do it in a test arena, because his paces really are very smart!

C.