still in a happy place

Trudi was good again last night- another horse and rider came in and Trudi did a very good job on focusing on me and keeping her mind on her work. Canter work was good - rounder and with better transitions. Still a long way to go, but both of us seemed to remember stuff from our last lesson and it helped. The ugly bulging outside shoulder reared its ugly head, but it wasn't too bad- I pissed Trudi off a couple of times by unsubtley popping it back in, but eventually I started catching it sooner and she didn't get so upset. The hard thing is using leg and rein to bring the shoulder back over and stop the drift without holding- because if I hold she just keeps falling- it's the quick give and take that fixes it. Some really nice half-halts from the body, and she didn't go all nuts when we did the canter transitions-- often she gets really jazzed and starts rushing around after we do one. There always seem to be so many lessons I forget and have to keep relearning- don't hold, and pay more attention, ride every stride...
Broke down and bought Trudi a flymask- they're such unattractive things, but her eyes have been tearing and the flies utterly swarm- so till we get a snow we'll see if the mask helps.