Contrast

Had a not-so-good ride last night.

To make a long story short, she ended up feeling rushy and I grabbed her head back instead of loosening and pushing her forward (what always makes her slow down and balance up). We ended up fighting for our stops with that bit, something I really didn't want to do. I'd honestly rather go back to a bit that she's going to grab at than one that is making her open her mouth and brace, so I'll shop around for a little while but in the mean time I'm going to put either the eggbutt french link or the oval mouth D on her. Actually, what I really want is the french link loose ring, so I just have to stretch the bit guards over that.

I got off feeling like it was a really, really crappy ride, but made myself stop and think about some things:

• All except 1 of our circles was easy
• We can canter around the indoor, both ways, for "as long as I want" - atleast a couple of times
• Her transitions were perfect - we worked on walk NOW, trot NOW, and canter SOON (I give her a few steps of trot from the walk to bump up)
• She didn't even THREATEN to do anything mean
• Our lead changes are down to 2-3 trot strides, both on a serpentine & a figure-8
• I can ask her to counter canter, and she can do the straight sides and about 1 turn before she gets on her forehand and unbalanced
  

So, honestly, I need to think of how far that has all come and just keep working on it. Rome wasn't built in a day, and her muscles can't be either.

Oh, and another thing worth noting, when she gets "hot," I can either loosen my reins (sometimes she breaks to trot/walk) or circle her and she comes right back.