Conterbend for jumping straigntness

It was another Fox Hills/ Vineyard Hunt mounted meeting day. (I LOVE Pony Club!) My ride was not scheduled until later in the day so I hung around at the barn all morning to wathc the other rides and then sit in on the unmounted lesson in safety and turn out inspections (we have lots of ne w members and this was a needed lesson for every one to be on the same page).  

Deuce and I had a lesson with Lea and Special and the subject was again, jumping. Yay! We are getting ready for the upcoming season so instead of simple grid work, we are starting to think more about riding courses. However today  it was just two oxers set on the diagonals so we jumped in a figure 8 around the arena. It was a great opportunity to ride between fences, jump and turn  and find the line to the next fence. 

Deuce and I had to really work on our straightness  (that drifting left tendency has appeared again) and when I don't keep him straight  the distance gets crewed up and he gets a bad take off. He never pulled a rail but we did get an awkward ride a time or two.  Since he really wants to pop his shoulder left; Erin said couterbend him though the corner and keep almost that counter bend to the fence. Hey guess what!? That really worked great, he was actually straight to the fence and we had a great ride afterwards too. He didn't even dive and fall around the corner at the other end. We were able to bend!