(no subject)

Saturday Trudi was a pill- I was like dear Lord, give me the strength not to turn my horse into dog-biscuits... There was one point where she said "No" loud and clear- I felt it coming a mile away, sighed, and leaned forward as she oh so slowly reared, oh so slowly folded her hocks, and oh so slowly leaped forward. It was ridiculous and I wanted to kill her, and she knew it. I stopped short with my whip hand way up high in the air and she flinched. She didn't do it again, though she continued to be a butt head for another half hour or so. All told I rode for about 2 hours before we finally got like 5 strides of canter that weren't shying/tearing around/swapping leads/swan-neck-giraffe-head (this is where she manages to put her neck in an S curve and keep her head horizontal). Saddle pad was SOAKED. All because she decided she didn't like the cones (which we've used before) and because she heard everyone else getting dinner. Rode Sunday and she was quite good- canter was super from the get go. Reminding myself that often the hard rides come before the breakthroughs...