Nice session with Maddie today, and it's not over yet. I ran out to meet Erika with her stock trailer, then realized she had some chores to do and it would be awhile. So I saddled up Maddie and spent about 45 minutes in the outdoor arena with her. I began with classical in-hand work, which felt good. She would shy at something and lose her bend, but in this situation I just put her on a small circle and then continued with the shoulder-in. We did two squares on each rein.
In the saddle we did two-barrel work, both on small, yielding circles and medium size circles with more straightness. She tipped her nose in well for this work, which was 90% trot. The fist couple of canters were rough (looking out, spooking forward, etc), but I got some nice turns on both leads.
Worked lateral stuff at the walk in between work sessions. Introduced renvers on the circle--right bend is much easier to get. Was able to step out of this exercise on the left rein into a smart half-pass to the right. The half pass to the left was mostly a leg-yield (no bend). But I'm pleased with her first attempts. More backing in circles, straight lines, and straight lines with turns.
She was good and soaked when it came time to load her, which was just what I wanted. We were using a large stock trailer and she walked right on. She danced a bit while I got ready to close the divider on her, but she did the best she could. She settled down for the ride to Nelson's and we unloaded with no problems.
I spent 30 minutes letting her settle into her new stall and walking her around the property. I plan to head over this evening for a trail ride.
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