Good Sofa

After Sofie's occasional nuttiness, barn sourness and "difficult" moments, I was a little bit discouraged. Mostly, I was happy to be riding again, and having fun even when things got "interesting" (I still have this horse for a reason, and that reason is not because she's perfect), but there was a tiny bit of me that remembered how good she was back in June, and I wondered how long it would take to get over our "back to work issues". I know how to handle her issues now, but it was still a bit of a drag to have to revisit them.

On Tuesday, I wasn't sure if I would be able to ride outside, as the clouds were heavy and the rain had been pouring earlier. I started out in the indoor, riding with a friend and her mare (the first time in quite a while that I've ridden with someone, yay!). Sofie did well even on a circle at the walk and I did several trot transitions. She was not exactly thrilled, but she was definitely trying for me. Eventually I decided to take her outside, since she was clearly bored with the indoor and there wasn't a downpour going on.

We walked around for a bit, and she did very well. She was clearly happier outside, and she walked forward nicely. I was happy just to be walking her around outside - it's so nice after the monotony of the indoor.

Walking away from the barn on a flat stretch of yard, I decided to try a trot transition. I had been avoiding that potential conflict, but she felt so good, she was even speeding up in her walk, and I had a whip, so what could really go wrong? I decided to find out. I asked her for a trot, expecting some kind of bad reaction, but instead she just trotted forward softly without so much as pinning her ears. I was so happy, I let her trot a few steps and then patted her and exclaimed over her.

Heading back to the barn, I trotted her a couple more times. She decided to "take off" trotting in her new favorite Go Faster spot, but I just went with it and she came back down fairly quickly. Then I turned her away from the barn and tried trotting her again, and once again, she was light, responsive and straight, not weaving or protesting in any way. Once again she was heavily praised, and then I quit for the day.

I didn't expect her to feel like that. But there were moments when she felt like she did on our best days. We will get there again. I know that now.