step in the right direction...

I had a bit more of a think while doing 'other things' today, and was more sure Rafiki's whole head tossing thing was defiance. So I planned to have a 'vigorous' play and then see where we were at, but riding unlikely as windy and drizzly.

We started off by doing 'put your nose on something' - which they all love, as they get a treat at some point. Then we played OLP2 and 4, walk and trot figure of eight, which she knows. I upped the speed quite a lot in the trot as she was understanding the pattern, then gave her a rest and moved to circles - walk trot and canter, with a few transitions on the circle that she hasn't really done. I gave her plenty of time to respond to phases and if she didn't stop I sent a real wave down the rope and whacked her on the jaw,not very hard but enough to get in her way. That made a difference - she couldn't keep her eyes off me!! I had to do it 3 times - she was completely LB and didn't take offence at all. Then I got her to back over a pole,which she hasn't been able to manage before, but she stumbled then thought about it, voluntarily changed the position of her feet then tried again. What a good girl! Then we moved to more circles, and if she tossed her head going into canter I tagged her - only did it twice!! She is cantering MUCH better now. Looks rideable. So we put the bareback pad on and had a quick play with that.

Then I put the 12ft on and we did some lateral flexion, and she was very soft, so despite the weather I thought I'd hop on. Well WHAT a difference - far from perfect but a huge improvement on yesterday. She listened when I directed and did not try and put her head down once OR toss her head. When I directed her she was reasonably soft, certainly no brace like yesterday. She still trotted but was much softer to stop, I have the feeling she thinks thats what I want, and I probably have caused it by giving her treats - essentially point to point. But we'll deal with that as we go along - it is helping build my independent seat - her trot is so much easier to sit to than Cam's, when it is going slow anyway - think I'd be getting off if it was a fast trot! We got one point to point at a walk all the way, and she stopped halfway along by herself so we finished when we completed it. We rode for about 15 minutes.
Very pleased!!