Worked Maddie alone today, doing more at the walk and challenging her to reduce her energy and deal with the environment without getting nervous or balky. In the woods I spent time tree bending and desensitizing her to all the sticks and branches. I was very surprised to learn how sensitive she is to branches. After doing a little tree bending, backing, etc, I hopped off and went to find a branch I could rub over her. As soon as I touched her with it, she contracted hard and I could barely hang on to the rein. She was going around me in a circle but in a real panic. I immediately dropped the stick and it still took everything I had to hang on and calm her down. She was crashing into small trees, careening over sticks and rotting logs, and really getting worked up. No wonder I failed to hold her the other day when I was on the ground after having just come off.
Anyway, I retreated to smaller sticks and very soon I was able to push all kinds of branches into her legs while she walked around me calmly. But I will have to repeat this again and keep working on it. Her haunches are still very electric. Similarly, I am still working to be able to rub behind the saddle when mounted. When I do this for the first time each ride, she is still squirting forward. I repeated the stick work towards the end of the ride today, and she was only marginally better. This time her haunches brushed a sapling pretty good and it really panicked her. I think the woods in general are mentally challenging for her and we will just have to keep chipping away at this.
We worked in the Schumann's outdoor arena again and Maddie was really making nice circles. I am now working on getting her straight on the diagonal and the centerline. Canter departs on the left lead were ugly--only got the correct lead about 50% of the time today. At the walk her renvers is coming along, which will be key to improving her canter leads. Getting some half pass to the left now, too. All in all, a fun, solid ride.
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