Aspen video - 2nd round BN

The Beginner Novice course had an up bank, down bank, 3 stride combination, and the usual twisty turns. It rode really well and Charlie was an absolutely reliable champ. I rode the first round a little nervous and tight, so instead of going novice, I rode it again, much better except for we came into the final fence a little long so I launched it instead of adding an extra stride. Next month we'll do Novice twice and be ready to go for this year's season! Much to my surprise, the novice did not look that much bigger or harder (although it definitely needed more control for tighter turns while going faster so I'm probably grossly underestimating how hard that will be to do), except for the last fence which was an enormous rolltop. Since Charlie jumps like a dream, and jumps even better when the fences get bigger, today really helped me build confidence - although I was a little disappointed that I immediately got nervous when we got there, I was really pleased with how much improved my riding feels from the end of last year. I felt like I could think about a lot more things and react a lot better and plan ahead compared to last year. And like my position was more solid. And much to my relief, I did not have any issues with the right hand turns. Charlie is dreamy. I loooovveeee Charlie!