Relaxing Hack with Peri

Yay!!! Friday fun day! I had planned on riding both boys today but was going to have to be fairly quick. But then my appointment in Fayetteville cancelled so I had until 2:30 pm wide open! Whoo hoo. And it was a beautiful day! Peri brought both horses and I brought both horses and we had fun. 
 

After riding Dan and Sunny, we switched to Fleck and Tess and went for a nice long hack. After we got them loose and chilled, we headed to the stadium ring. Peri jumped around a good bit while Fleck and I watched and did jump crew and then it was our turn. I didn't need to do much. I didn't even want to do much. But for my hearts sake, I set up the prelim combo fence just to see. I really am such a mean mommy and really can't let things go. After watching my video and processing and letting it simmer for a few days, I have some new thoughts. I think I just rode like crap. Kelly politely said as much and Beth did too. But I thought so before I even talked to them. I watched the video and thought... well of course he stopped. He was behind my leg the whole time. The fourth fence was awful and he leaned into the turn and I didn't set him up so he came into it icky. The second time we tried it was better but not much. So... maybe it's me. I am so worried about him that I'm forgetting that *I* have to ride. 

So I set up what I am guessing was about prelim height. I didn't measure but it was boob height, so it should have been about right. I set up the one stride square oxer to vertical and set it with no ground lines and square so I could jump it both ways. I even put the poles underneath the square oxer so it was boxier looking rather than airy. 

I warmed up over some of the smaller fences and Peri mentioned that I was ... taking it for granted. I was riding very slack and just knowing that he would do it because it's his job and the jumps were small. I didn't have THE canter. (yep... this fits with what happened at Full Gallop. I also think I was trying so hard to not worry and stress that I almost was too slack. And I was trying to not over ride like at Windridge....) So... I fixed it. I jumped him over the two smaller fences again but RODE and it was much nicer. So we came to the vertical to oxer first, because... why not be nice. It wasn't bad but the striding was just a teeny bit off and I didn't quite give him enough leg. We tried again and it was better. Then I turned him the other way and we did the oxer to the vertical. It was fine the first time. He came into it just great but I sort of panicked and gave him an extra little squeeze and he lengthened his stride just a hair too much. But it was still fine. It jumped well, it just wasn't quite out of stride like I wanted. So we tried one more time and nailed it. It was lovely and smooth and he jumped it well. 

So.... ??? Maybe it's just the footing and he knows and trusts it. More likely I'm riding better and getting a better canter before hand and that's the bigger difference. But.. we did it. :)