Wednesday;s ride was great - I had a bit of a lightbulb moment with her about my habit of tensing my seat when we go from freewalk to medium walk - every time I gather my reins, she tenses and jogs off, past my seat. It's my bad, because I tense up in anticipation of this mistake.

            So, instead of just doing the same thing over and over and getting the same result (definition of INSANITY) I put her on a 20 m circle, and practiced only picking up one rein at a time, and looking anywhere but at her. I tried to completely dissociate my brain from what I was doing with my body, and I concentrated on BREATHING! Guess what? Only 3 reps of alternating gathering first one rein, then letting it back out, and then the other, and back out, I was able to then keep the first rein, gather the second, and there wasn't a hint of tension or anything from her. This may take a few weeks to solidify, but I think I may have found the tool that does the job for this horse.

Also, I was able to both get her to stretch over her topline, and then FINALLY push on her in the trot and for the first time ever, I felt her back round up underneath me and her hind legs come up, under, and push with power. It was a great feeling of what is to come with this mare.

Last night's ride was different - she was pretty much ready to go off the bat - very supple laterally and just a dream in the contact. I got some stills from the video to show how she's coming along.