Success!

YAY! Finally some headway! So Gypsy has been iffy for the past week or two, and so today I decided to do something completely different. She has been refusing to walk nicely, and especially around the rail of the arena. So today I hopped on bareback (she's usually a bit calmer bareback) and set up some cones and a ground pole. So today all we did was walk calmly and nicely all around the cones. Lots and lots of bending, and lateral work, and occasionally we would walk out to the rail and walk down it. And Voila! Gypsy was calm and bendy and was going marvelously! Success!

Also asked a teacher of my equine training class about Gypsy and her issues and got some tips. She said to come off the rail way more. Do nothing but circles and serpentines, and bending bending bending. Rarely go back to the rail. Sounds like it makes sense to me, so I am definately going to try that. Put out the cones again and trot all around them like mad.

Speaking of that training class I'm in....drama today in there! Gah! My partner and I are assigned to a QH/Percheron mare who is about as sensitive and dead sided as a brick.

<--Exhibit A.

Love that horse- such a sweetheart, but boy can she be difficult.

Anyways, put an english saddle for the first time on her today, to see if she would be easier to get momentum if we rode that way- with the ability to have some more leg on her. I got on first. So much better! The saddle fits too narrow for her fattyness, so she was throwing her head a bit (planning on bringing my other saddle for the next class-its so wide, it could fit a house), but she was acting better than she has before! Yay! Had her bending a little, the very beginning baby steps of some lateral movement, and a bit of trotting. More success!

Ah, but it was foiled. My partner climbed aboard- she doesn't ride english- really, not at all. And before too long, I look over to see My buddy go flying. Apparently she got ahead of our Mare's motion or something, Mare got upset, hopped around a little, smashed Buddy's head with her own big fatty head, then sent Buddy to the ground.

Gah. All with the owner of our Mare standing up in the viewing platform to watch it all. What a mess. Talked to the owner. She is massively worried about my Buddy- who took quite a spill- and also worried about the bad fit of the saddle. I assured her we were going to use the wider saddle on Friday, and that the saddle was not the cause of Mare's blowup. Owner still seemed very nervous and unsure of what to say about this little event. I can hardly blame her, really. I would feel the same way in her position. We just need to realize what went wrong, and be sure to fix it.

Sigh. Drama. But still some success for today. I am happy enough about it all. At least Mare was good for me to ride. Ha.