Very productive session today. The wind was howling (30+ mph) and that arena would not quiet down. It was my intention to ride her, but this time I opted for a fairly intense warmup, daring her to lose her focus. Lots of "c" exercise up and down and across the arena. The turns were incredibly agile, doing 180 degree spins on her hindquarters. She was predictably sticky whenever her butt faced the scary end, but she did the best to date. I worked her mouth down at the scary end and chatted for a few minutes when Brian stopped by.
Back at the "shallow end of the pool" I did a final check, getting on and off from both sides several times. She did not show any bad signs, so I hopped on for real and guided her forward. I began by yielding both sides and then expanding it into larger circles and straight lines. She was very good on the left side, but the right was a little stiff. Her head stayed down very well, much better than the session with Maria. She did not have any head toss today at all. Whenever she contracted I just grabbed a single rein and pulled her around. She is moving off the leg well, but better on the left side. Towards the end she pinned her ears a couple times. I dismounted and re-mounted a couple of times during this walk session, and also walked over some ground poles. She did not spook during the ridden work at all, although I hardly gave her the chance to.
By this time the wind was howling and all kinds of things kept making crashing noises outside. I scrapped plans to work on her feet and left her tied on a new tie ring down at the scary end while I took my time closing up. I am really happy with this progress today. A big smile on the ride home...
Sounds like your day was like a scene from a Cris Cox/Clinton Anderson video. Congrats.
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