XC lesson: not as much cobweb dusting as I expected!

No pictures other than this cute one of the boys, but... Fleck and I did have a great XC school at Cedar Ridge. It was a good prep for next weekend, though I still kind of wish I had more time to get one more in. Preferably at Chatt Hills, as many of the competitors will have shown the weekend before and then schooling is open in between. But oh well. It just isn't going to work out for us. I'll have to hope that we don't "Need" to school it before we show it. 

And Beth said that if I ride like that, it won't matter one bit. We'll be awesome ;) So... how was riding like "that"?? Basically, I had to rev him up and get him in front of my leg but in a nice forward but energized semi-collected canter. Yes...he was galloping and at speed, but he couldn't be strung out. We had one moment of UGH..... ;) My bad totally. We were doing a little course and we went downhill to the small little tree branch fence, then uphill to the up bank and then over a little log. Well... I came down the hill and was trying to balance him but totally left my leg off. So he poo pooed down the hill and had to heave himself over the little branch. It was so bad that I'm pretty sure my heals went so far back that I was able to click them together over Fleck's back. Ugh. So we went back again and this time I rode him with impulsion down the hill and energy and we had a great ride. :) 

We also did the big corner and the little corner and a bendy line of skinnies. Granted, the skinnies were small, but we were working on technique. Then we did a small bounce. Again, small, but the point is the same. Beth just reminded me that I need to keep him collected and on a short stride. He's game to go for the flyer, but he can't if he's strung out. And it would be more obvious over the bigger jumps. We also did this scary ramp looking jump. I don't know why they scare me but they do. I just need to remember to ride looking at the base rather than the top. Otherwise, I can't see my spot. Of course it doesn't really matter where my spot is if my canter is correct. ;)

So yep... Fleck was great and other than the rampy thing, nothing looked scary. Which was exciting since it had been awhile. I still felt like they were a bit small but Peri said they were as big as they've always been. ;) 

So yep... the plan is to do fitness tomorrow, then off Mon and Tues, then a jump school (quicky) and hack Wed, dressage Thursday and then leave Friday. Eeeks!!!