Warmed up then Chris jumped on him for me. He immediately felt that he just wasn't taking him into the fences and several times he circled him away as he knew he wasn't going to end up on the right take off point as he just wasn't listening. So swapped the short whip for a schooling whip and he got a few taps on the bum in the last few strides into the fence which woke him up rather a lot. Given he's bucked me off at a standstill for smacking him on the bum before I don't think I'd ever have been that brave but Chris wasn't aware of that lol! He soon had him motoring and got me to put the fences up. Think the course was around 1m25 - it looked huge anyway and he flew! Only knocked one down on a really tight turn off a corner. Was brilliant to see him really operating and to know what talent he has with a good rider on him!
Then it was my turn. Had to keep the schooling whip and see the really forwards strides. Messed up a few to start with as just didn't trust him to take me on the longer one but he was on it by this point and when I started to realise that and trusted him to go we also flew! We even took a stride out on a related 5 stride curving line which is totally unheard of! Had to come round tight turns to big oxers and just keep him motoring and trust him to go and then actually found myself having to hold in the related distances. We got the treble and the double right every time which is always a huge relief to me as prone to messing them up. We also flew a 1m15 upright off a tight turn both times - just the short of thing I'd have held to before but he was really taking me and it was such a fab feeling! Just a shame you have to literally put a rocket up his bum before he starts to really work! It is coat change time at the moment which makes him extra sluggish but boy he can be frustrating as he's really got plenty of ability.
Chris is away for the next month now so I'm just going to have to try and keep reminding myself of the feeling he gave me in this lesson!
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