New attitude

I'm really pleased with the new look Maddie is giving me the past couple of days.  Getting a bit in her mouth and handling her feet have really seemed to turn her into something new.  We tacked up in the aisle and she really handled it well.  I am still working in her loins and hindquarters, but she is so, so much better about that now.

Here she is after being led into the arena, still unworked.  I really love how she looks here.  She's just at a new level of acceptance today.  That said, she is still showing some stuff that I need to work on.  But I feel the starting point is quite different now.

She is lunging well off the halter at all 3 gaits and over most of the arena.  The far end is still a spooky area.  She is more nervous when I lunge off the bit ring.  I lunged directly off the ring and also lunged her again with the lunge line anchored to the girth.

Excellent lateral work in hand today.  Shoulder in is real good, although she is starting to look for a way out with her nipping.  In general I am taking the approach of ignoring this behavior, as opposed to punishing her for it.  If she does something really obvious and obnoxious I may clock her in the jaw, but mostly my approach is to cultivate good habits and wait for the bad habits to go away.  (keep in mind, this mare DOES bite and DOES kick.  The real thing.  But at this point it's more of an extension of her tail swish than something really aggressive, IMHO.  So I am only reacting to the really outlandish stuff.)

Flexing to the bridle ended well, but when I first started the exercise I felt she was dull.  A little disappointing, I was hoping she would be real light by now.

Finished in the aisle, working on her feet.  Fronts have been taken all the way down and a good mustang roll applied.  Still need to work on the bars.  In the rear I worked on the heels, but it was mostly an introduction to the file.  Her feet are a little strange to me--I'm not used to hooves which are so upright.  The hoof wall is unbelievably thick and strong.  I see almost no flaring or separation.  Nice feet!