Whooooo 4 points

Not a fat lot to report today. All went scaringly well despite not having cleaned tack or anything this morning.

Got up, cleaned tack, rescued spotty pony from fence, did fence repairs, got ponies in, did stables, plaited pony, lorry started first time, pony loaded first time, got diesel on the slip road to the motorway, got there without getting lost and in plenty of time.

Parked right next to the main road but hey no problem for my pony who totally ignored quarry lorries and God knows what. Note to self: he actually IS good in traffic nowadays.

Warmed up in little 10 min bursts when there were only a max of 4 people in there, came out when it got a little too busy and he started to back off when people came past him.

In to N22 and all went well although first medium trot didn't really happen. HUGE spook in canter though :( but recovered OK I think. Ended in 10th place I think and with 65.52% so I was really pleased.

Virtually straight in to N37 and have definitely laid a few demons to rest with that test! He went really well. Let him go a little too strung out perhaps in the trot so our 10m circles weren't quite so good. Mediums were a lot better. Counter canter went fine. Muppet here totally forgot the G&R the reins over the centre line on both reins so only got 4s for those movements :( Ended on 60% which again, am pleased with. Oh and we got an 8 for our FWLR whooo. Let the reins out and his head sunk to the floor then for the first time, really, the turbo kicked in in walk so no comments "needs to travel more" or the like.

No breaking in canter (apart from the spook when he also got disunited and in a right muddle), no bucks, no ears back, shiny happy pony today!!

So very pleased with him.

My position is a lot better too. I'm still tipping forwards but there just wasn't enough room in my head to think "close back of armpits" - my next Big Thing I want to work on is my hands I think. They are way too low and too close to my body in the pictures. I'll get there I'm sure. Can't be doing too badly to get 7s for my riding in afflicted dressage so just for today, I'm going to allow myself a little smile to myself.

Pics on facebook :)