All that & a change of lead

Ah, yes, Mark (or Marcus, whatever boats your float), the first horse who was genuinely a joy to tack up. Tacking down was not as fun. I got a couple of threats for trying to curry his stomach, but I'd go ahead and make the observation that a bad attitude makes for a fun ride.

Low quality ROOTD shot
The otherwise curious and in your pocket pon managed to highlight my short comings: stiffness and heavy handing here and there. I was warned to stay quite soft, and I completely understood why. I had too much hand to even get an inside bend. Downward transitions on him are apparently never timely, so I just tried my best. I was also dealing with a saddle that was too curvy and too wide for Mark (couldn't find a better one to switch it out with), and I probably could have gone up another hole for a bit more comfort.

We did our usual flatwork then move on to some combinations, including a line which I haven't done in some time. I managed to both chip and fly at the second fence. I was told that Mark doesn't have a great flying change and to just try for a simple. To my surprise, we jumped the first fence in the second grid, landed on the incorrect lead, and he did a clean change without me even asking. I'll be riding that high for a while.

Curious Pon
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