A little better

Today Maddie & Star were in their stalls when I arrived.  I brought Maddie into the arena and tied her to the blocker ring.  It was a challenge for her to deal with this cold but she did pretty good.  I rode Star for about 30 minutes and had to hop off a couple of times to shorten the line up.  Towards the end Maddie got a leg over the lead line and made a big mess and ended up loose in the arena.  She also lay down at one point, which I didn't know what to make of!  I tried to ride up to her and pet her, but Star is not good at this kind of work yet.

I tied Star and switched to Maddie.  She saddled nicely but did take a giant, scary leap when Steve appeared out of nowhere in the loft.  I tried to get her to walk on the lunge, but as soon as she went to the trot I switched to the C exercise, doing half circles and moving all over the arena.  She got around behind me a bunch of times, especially when working towards a spooky wall (which was each wall in turn at different times!).  I worked her very hard through her resistance and did not let up for a good 10-15 minutes.  I just felt she needed it.  We ended up resting at the spookiest part of the spookiest end of the arena, where I let her soak with her nose next to the railing for a good 5 minutes, maybe longer.

Went through all the rope work--turn and go felt safe for the first time!  Stepping across two steps in the front in both directions.  Tried shoulder in with the stick and it was really coming along on both sides.  Needed to have the forequarters yielding first to make this easy.  Tried circle driving (walking alongside with the stick laying on her withers) for the first time and she did well.  She would stop at first but figured it out.  Walk only.  Ended with standing on the scary mounting block and laying on her a bunch.  Doing about the same.  I let her loose in the arena and it was no trouble catching her at all.  If anything, she is so hooked up to me that it's a little scary!  Afterwards I turned her out outdoors for the first time, alone in the round pen.  She seemed very calm out there.