working through resistance

Maddie showed some unexpected resistance today and it took a bit to get a concession from her.  We were having a good session when she spooked at a mounting block someone left in the arena and she did not settle down.  I expected she would just deal with it after being sent past it a few times, but instead she doubled down and really turned into a pill.  I ended up retreating to some stuff I thought she was past--letting her sniff it, send her between the mounting block and the wall, etc.  I'm surprised she made such a big deal out of it at this point.

Rope work, yielding the forequarters, and turn and go looked good today.  While sacking out with the plastic bag she took some hard, spooky jumps after I banged it on the saddle.  Again, I thought she was past this and it took a lot of patience to get back to a starting point.  Aaargh.  She did well when I actually hopped on the mounting block and leaned over her, banged the saddle, etc.  I hope we made some progress.

Took her outside and again experienced resistance.  She sent very stiffly and really lost it when somebody drove a car down the driveway two houses away.  It was windy and snowing lightly but I thought she could handle it.  I worked her around some other obstacles and jumped the barrels a couple of times.  But overall softness was hard to find today.

I moved the round pen outside and put the indoor arena back together.  Once the door was closed I brought her back in and tied her to a blocker ring for 30 minutes while I moved some panels around and cleaned things up.  This was her first time tied and she did very well.  Some of the barn help came (with a dog), I left her alone, etc.  I was pleased that she at least learned this lesson today!