Started with a nice half hour hack there to warmup then straight into the SJ arena - the surface is fab there - springy, light, consistent - lovely! To start with I didn't have enough canter - a proper SJ canter still feels very fast to me. This meant we had a few jumps where we got in a bit close and weren't making related distances - well in fact I put 5 in a 4 stride distance without it even feeling wrong. Moved him up a gear and things improved. They had a treble set up (1 stride then 2 strides), a related 4 stride distance and a dog leg as well as numerous other individual jumps so plenty to practice, mostly around 90cm although 2nd part of related distance was 1m. Rode without martingale but on top hole of universal with crank/flash as didn't want to have to change too much before going XC. He really doesn't like any contact on his mouth and just sticks his head higher but as long as I create the canter then let him come to his fences with no interference he seems to jump well and it means if he does get in close he has room to wriggle over the fence without knocking it - all session he just knocked a brick off the wall but otherwise cleared everything easily and we met most things on a good stride - just messed up the wavy planks a couple of times. Did a little water tray a couple of times which just took him by surprise the first time but was fine after that.
Then we had a little rest before moving onto the XC. He was really napping towards home which was frustrating but no uncommon for him there - he was also a bit strong and excitable. I had left him on the top ring of the Universal in case he was sticky but could have done with the bottom ring. He was really bold with the water, charging through time after time and popping the little log before and after. Happily popped up and down the steps showing no signs of reluctance to jump up or down. Did lots of logs, tyres, raised tyres, house before and after water, all very bold, didn't miss a stride once and was seriously taking me to them, never any doubt he'd jump - clever boy.
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