And up again!

Wow. What a ride tonight. Horses certainly are up and down!

Decided on a course of action - consistent quiet firmness and detatching emotion. In everything we do. So for example, grooming and tacking up. She will pull vile faces. I need to ignore it. She doesn't hate me, it's just how she is. If she goes to bite, deflect with elbow if possible or if she gets me growl/smack and then move swiftly on. For now with leading backwards is important, and sideways. I then have control of her feet at all times. We did LOTS of halting tonight, and by the time I turned her out, she stopped when I did :clap:

Got on, warmed up in walk, figures of eight, leg yielding, lots of changing rein, thinking of that long and low and the right heaviness in my hand. Up into trot and aiming for the same, had to correct her rhythm at first but was absolutely over the moon by the end, had what we had in our Fran lesson but very slightly quicker/swingier - more energy. It felt FANTASTIC! So, thinks I. She did her worst on Saturday, and we didn't die. Let's canter. So we did, on both reins, without Fran there to make me :lol: and did several transitions. I was grinning from ear to ear. There is a hell of a lot to work on in the canter, but practicing will help and just doing it is a big achievement as it has been a big mental block for me and her.

Told her how clever she was :wub: