Trail Rides & Trot

'Twas sunny on Friday!!

Still muddy but dry enough to get Brandi and do walk/halt work in the arena.  I put the simplest D-ring snaffle we have on her, and she seemed to like it better than the bit I had her in last time.  Overall she did really well (still need to devote a whole lesson to teaching her to stand for mounting, but anyway...) until we went to move off to trot; then we had something of a repeat of last time--head bobbing, tail swishing, unhappy.  Slightly more willing but still not happy.  Next time I'll put her in the Western saddle (it's wider) and see if it's a saddle fit issue.  We got a couple good tries at the trot tracking right (her better direction), though, and then I let her just walk out.  She had a lovely natural head carriage on a loose rein for much of the ride, and no problem with me purposely flopping all over her, stretching forward and backward, in and out of two-point, standing in the stirrups, giving her hugs, tugging on her mane, etc., etc..  She has the mind to be a great kids' horse and I want to have her as bomb-proof as possible.  Though she's already pretty close to it!  Good girl.  :)

Then I went to Nowhere to get Rhapsody and met Coach on the way back.  She suggested trail work, so I put on the Western saddle (so I had more things to hang onto in case of attack by the Invisible Horse-Eating Monster) and we walked up and down the roads for 20 minutes or so.  Rhapsody was much better than I had expected; we had a few minutes of hyper-ness but overall she was quite calm, "looky" but not spooky.  Afterwards took her back out and she stood at the gate watching me leave again.  :) 

Proud of both my girls this weekend!  Hoping to have a lesson on Monday at long last--we'll see if I've again forgotten everything I ever knew about jumping.  ;)