real work

It was just barely dry enough today so that I could really work her. I cantered her on the lunge for the first time. Some cross firing on the right lead. She has been exciteable lately so I stopped a lot to work her with ropes. This helps her a lot. The wind was howling today but she handled it pretty well.

Lots of trot work from the saddle. She can ignore the outside leg and make very ugly circles when she is excited. Once the lateral work is more confirmed this should be less of a problem. She is not very nimble in our small arena but she is coming along.

Lateral work is coming along. The right bend is still resisting (from the saddle) in travers/renvers, to the point of open rebellion and moving off the wrong leg. But by working renvers on the circle I seem to have made some solid progress. She can half pass well on the left rein but I can't touch it until this right bend problem is solved. Shoulder-in on both sides very good and very controllable. Some short bits of shoulder-in at the trot. Ground work is really fun. She can do turn on the forehand with counter bend even, and move from shoulder-in to renvers or half pass easily.

Maria took her to the park yesterday for the first time. She was spooky but controllable. It doesn't help that I just haven't been able to work her to a sweat at all since she arrived, due to her training level and then the mud.