Civilized

The princess has a reputation.

But we're making progress on changing this reputation.  Today we had a jumping lesson that was completely and utterly not scary.  No fliers, no long spots, no bolting.  She was quite polite and rideable for pretty much the whole thing.  The panel was swinging in the wind a bit, so we were both a bit wiggly to that, but I think that's understandable (and was probably due to me staring at it more than her).

Of course, after well over a year of ring clearing jumping, it's going to take a lot more than a couple of good lessons before people stop gasping and running for cover when the princess comes out to jump.

Next weekend is UNH with the trainer in the saddle.  Hopefully all of our work will help her have a good trip.  Fi hasn't gone into heat since her shot, and her stitches look really good.  I'm going to take her out for a gallop tomorrow so she can stretch her legs.  It's a start of the season Beginner Novice course, so the biggest problems should be getting the princess to respect the jumps.  She'll also be going Beginner Novice with me in June, but that's mostly a scheduling thing since Novice is on Sunday and everyone else that's going needs to ride on Saturday.  Groton House at the end of June will be Novice (with the trainer in the saddle), and with any luck it will be Novice at the summer Valinor with me.  Last season was our Beginner Novice season and it looks like we're back on track to have this year be our Novice season.