Moving up is hard pt 2

So after we dressaged, we headed down and the jump ring was running about an hour early.  So I went back and tacked up the pony.  Since the figure 8 and loose ring worked so well jumping last time that is what I went with.

I have found that Uno gets stronger the longer we warm up, so we keep it super simple.  A few laps of trot, canter both ways, jump both fences, then park it to watch a few rounds.

I will admit that my nerves were awful.  I serious felt sick cantering up to the first jump. Soooooo, I stared off into the warm up and didn't look at it after I lined up.  So we clobbered it. Seriously, the poor pony was looking where I was and never really saw the fence.

After that, I made sure to stare down the top rail of each jump and we were good.  One of the lines was creative distance-wise, but we got it done.

Then it was off to XC, I made the choice to keep the same bit and let me tell you that was a mistake.  Uno used the bride to just lean into and gallop off during each open stretch.  I felt like I was never able to half halt and so we careened around pulling on each other. This meant that by 1/2 way his confidence was pretty shaken. Not surprisingly when he was continually bailing me out of crooked lines and bad distances, he was backing off the jumps big time. However, he was still freight-training in between.

In hindsight, I should have used the curb, a grab strap, and shorted stirrups.  Also, we moved up 11 places because we were clear xc. We would have been in the ribbons if I hadn't taken that SJ rail.  Also - he jumped everything I pointed him at no matter the line, distance, or the shriveled size of my lady balls. 

We will drop back for the Championship but then tackle Maiden again in Aiken in December.

Good pony is good!!