A somewhat shorter and more intense session today. The trails were wet so I just went next door and worked in the outdoor arena. This was the first time for her in this arena, and it took her about 10 minutes to settle down. Even then, for the entire session she would occasionally revert to spookiness and drunkenness. This arena is an olympic sized (and groomed) affair, so I worked on straight lines and round circles. In between trot and canter work I focused on shoulder in and developing renvers/half pass/turn on the forehand with opposite flexion/etc. The left bend is still her glaring weakness. I made some progress and finally saw some honest half pass to the left. But her natural position is bent to the right, that is for sure. In shoulder in to the left, it's easy to be fooled by a neck that is mostly bent to the left, but her nose is tipped out. I experimented with different combinations of hand and leg to help her along.
It's so much fun to canter a horse that does not want to run away! She really has an honest canter. Towards the end I had to be careful when transitioning to trot that she did not die out. I also did a lot of walk-trot transitions on circles, using inside rein to keep her from contracting.
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