Feeling Good

So that whole give Buddy time off/break from jumping thing?  Not gonna happen.  He had Sunday off, spent a couple hours out in the pasture with Phoenix and I lunged him Monday.  Nik rode yesterday and he was good for her.  Today I took him out, and since there were jumps already set up in the ring, we jumped a bit.  He was just as fired up and forward as he was at the show.  I dropped my crop about 10mins into our flat warm-up...didn't need it at all. 

We didn't really work on anything in particular, just having a nice rhythm and waiting to the fence. He nailed every lead change too!  We ended by doing some of the low cavalettis that were set out with out my stirrups. I definitely need to get back into the habit of doing no stirrup work.

After I finished with Bud, I got Phoenix out.  I haven't ridden him for a while, and while he's been good for Anna, I wanted to get back on and see how he feels. He felt pretty sound, and we worked on some lateral work at the trot.  At the canter, we worked on going forward and letting him stretch down thru his back. I decided to do a couple flying changes (his used to be automatic).  He did a couple little "feel good" crow hops after the first one, but when I asked for the second, going the other direction, he full on bucked. I lost my reins, and the only thing I could see was the arena fence line fast approaching.  It was one of those moments where you think "Oh this is going to hurt."  Somehow I was able to grab the inside rein and turn him from the fence and got him to stop. 

Once my heart rate was back to normal, I called him a few choice words and went back to more lateral work.  Lots of leg yields, shoulder in,  and figure 8s. We ended with some simple lead change work, making sure he was cool and calm before picking up the new lead.

The boys in the field on Sunday.