On Catching & Riding

So today I came to the barn somewhat unsure of what exactly I was going to do but upon getting there and finding nobody else around I decided to go with my gut and do this with Rhapsody (and by definition all of the girls in her pasture since I've been in there before and they are nearly all varying degrees of hard to catch).

"This" by the way is 30 minutes spent just standing or sitting in the pasture and letting horses be curious and come up instead of trying to chase them down.  I had no idea if it would work or not.  But I figured, hey, if it doesn't work we are no worse off than before, and if it does work, great.  So out I went. 

Long story short, ten or fifteen minutes after I plopped myself against a tree near the mares and devoted myself to watching and standing still, Rhapsody got her curiosity sufficiently aroused to come up.  She is not very "touchy"; didn't spend much time sniffing or otherwise investigating me, unlike some of the others.  But after a bit of nose-sniffing she very purposely stood herself next to me and promptly went to sleep!  And stayed that way for the whole rest of the time I was there.  I'd scratch her a bit and she would open her eyes a little and then doze right back off again.  I was duly delighted. 

I don't know if this will transfer to her being more comfortable with people in general or not.  I don't know if it will make her easier to catch.  But I know she feels okay going to sleep by me, and that is a really big thing.  :D :D :D Happiness. 

Then I went and rode one of the older ex-racehorses (still not that old, 4-5 maybe?) that's been bucking and therefore hasn't gotten much work.  Rode Western because I was not appropriately attired for English.  ;)  Besides I can't fall off riding Western unless there's some horrific issue.  He tried one hoppy thing but I informed him that was not acceptable behavior in any way and after that he was okay.  I thought I felt some tensing up and rounding of his back whenever I asked for upward transitions though, even walk-trot, so I'm guessing we're not at the bottom of his issues yet.  I believe some groundwork might be in order, and seeing if we can get him to relax.  He's not a very relaxed horse, under saddle particularly.