Still a beautiful Spring??

Muffin's VERY FIRST time in a water complex!!

Wow!  I have been LOVING this weather lately:):)  Had a lovely ride on Tiki the other day; decided to jump around a little bit.  Set up 4 simple jumps; 2 outside, 2 inside.  One 2'9 vertical, the cavaletti stack oxer on the highest setting, a steep crossrail, and another steep crossrail.  Nothing high.  It had rained previously, so the footing wasn't too bad.  It didn't rain a LOT, so the footing wasn't awesome, but it was good enough to jump low.

I warmed up nice and forward.  Muffin was quite lazy, so I had to work at it, but by the time I trotted into the first jump, he felt awesome.  I'd planned to trot a few, then string together a course, but I ended up trotting that first crossrail, then going and going and going lol.  We were GREAT!  Counting down from 5 has been a Godsend for me.  I'm finally starting to actually see my spots consistently, and I'm able to make minor adjustments if needed.  I was channeling my inner hunter princess, so I worked to keep Tiki slow and rhythmical, and we popped off about 7 flying changes, 6 were R-L.  The one L-R change he was late on, so I circled, then jumped one more.  He was just lovely.  Very responsive, nice and straight, NO hint of a bulge to either of the insides, and nice clean changes without a change in tempo.  Even though the jumps were low, he showed respect and didn't whack any of them.

It rained a TON Sunday, so the footing will be PERFECT tomorrow, but he gets a pedicure.  Darn!  I don't like to ride him after he's gotten shoes, so I suppose I will have to put off our ride until Wed when the ring is rock hard again.  I may just do a dressage school down in Star's pasture on Wed; I'd rather ride in the field where the footing may be uneven, but at least it isn't concrete!  Who else enjoyed the Rolex live streaming coverage??  I've been glued to USEF network, watching the archived xc footage.  Can I just say ... I LOVE Quimbo and Henry Jota Hampton?  I am SO in love with those horses.  Gin and Juice is pretty awesome also; being a bit of a shorty myself, I do enjoy a petite horse.  I'm just not much of a mare girl!  Sure wish Badminton had some free online streaming somewhere, I do love to watch me some Michael Jung make a **** look like an equitation round:)