Good ride today.

Today actually felt really good. It was sort of 'rinse and repeat' from Monday. Today I woke up with a bad runny nose, so that explains why I stayed in bed all day instead of riding yesterday! Rode Mick first, and let me tell you ... he is HARD. That trot is absolutely unreal. Plus, he's so wide he literally hurts my right hip ... I rode Tiki right after him, and he felt SO tiny, lol. Warmed up with my usual exercise; circle, reverse across a pole, circle, reverse across a pole, repeat indefinitely until horse seems to supple up. Cantered both leads, no issues with the right one. Had my identical jump course set still from Monday, and mixed things up a little.

Trotted into a single cav. Good. Landed right lead for a left turn, so halted and backed. Trotted across the pole and reversed; REALLY worked on the proper bends. Trotted the cav 'stack' jump ... he did bang it, but didn't knock it down. Landed left lead for a right turn so halted and backed. Walked for a second, then did it again. This time after the stack, he jumped that SO much better, and landed on a LOVELY, soft right lead canter. Kept going to the oxer line. Got a great distance, but dumbbutt me didn't support with enough leg, so he overjumped the oxer from a bit of a stutter. Did the 3 easy, then stuttered off at the vertical as well because I hadn't recovered yet. AGH! Patted his neck in apology, then repeated the exercise with the trotting in. Much better! Nailed the oxer line nicely, but I was unsatisfied with my release. Did the course ONE more time, asking for flying changes over the pole this time and got them! Asked him to leave WAY long for the oxer, and he did as I asked. Knocked the jump hard, and I pulled him out of the line because I didn't think we'd make it. Let him recover for a second, then did JUST the 3 stride again; got it good! Focused HARD on making sure I gave him a GREAT auto release. Felt like I did. Had a good distance, gave him plenty of leg, and made sure my hand dropped low on the neck so I could maintain a straight line from bit to elbow. AWESOME! Felt as though he was really good today. I felt good, too, so hopefully tomorrow will continue that.