Horse Camp, Derby

This week we went to horse camp (cross country with Brooke, show jumping with Marc), schooled the cross country course and the dressage test, and then rode at the Prelim derby.
Brooke and Marc both had the same observation - shoulders back. Brooke said think that there's a parasail pulling my shoulders back and that I'm leading with my belt buckle, Marc said let Duke come up to me in the fences, don't throw myself forward like an 80s rider (especially the weird flourish overdramatic crest release).
Duke did great at dressage; he got three 5.0 or 5.5, but the rest of his scores were respectable 6.0 or above; he definitely seemed more consistent, relaxed, and forward and obedient than last year.
For show jumping he got his first double clear, despite a crazy ass left hand roll back turn and only 4 of us in prelim (out of 11) went double clear in show jumping (the others got one rail down).
He jumped into the water like it was no big deal, but our issue was the corners. I tried to line them up correctly, like Brooke said on Friday when we schooled, but he ran out (to the right) at the first one and then did a dead skid to a stop at the second one, even though I thought I had him on his haunches, lined up correctly, and was using my right leg.
So a few things to work on, but overall, actually really good.
What makes me uncomfortable is that I was super happy with him, even though we ended up in last place. We could have been in 5th! Against pros and intermediate horses! But instead we were dead last; two other horses had one stop, but he was the only one with two. Maybe I'm just getting delusional. And maybe we're not cut out for prelim. But it sure felt better than end of the season last year.