Riding Marsy down the road!

Yes, I really did ride outside of the corral! First I did some pre-road-ride checks LOL. I walked her down the road with me in z3, she did really good on that so I felt like we were ready for the next step. No, I didn't make a spur of the moment plan, I'd actually been planning to ride down the road before I even got down to the barn(not like me is it LOL).

When I mounted up she was calm quiet, but we still sat there for a little. Then I asked her forward. For a little while she did good and then she started turning and being silly. For a while I persisted in trying to get her to go down the road and then I decided to let her back up the road and past the corral. She didn't really want to go that way either, but she did better going that way than the other way. Strange that she didn't want to go down road where we had done z3 driving, but she would go up in the other direction where we hadn't walked it out! My hypothesis is that Marsan is scared of the big hills that rise up on one side of the road that we usually walk down, there are big scarey hills if you go up the road in the other direction.

Guess what! All of that z3 driving I do with Marsan is paying off! When I was riding her today I decided to see what would happen if I did in my body what I do when I'm giving her commands in z3 on the ground. She actually caught on and listened to those cues! I would look where I wanted to go and squeeze just a bit and she actually went forward! Then I would drop all of my energy and focus and she would stop instantly. When I had her at a standstill, I leaned back a little and clapped my feet near her chest and she backed up! All of this without the reins!!!!!

Wow! I'm just so amazed at how far we've come in a year! Last year when I got her she was uncontrollable, she wouldn't stop when you wanted her and she wouldn't go at the right time either! The other day I took her on a ride with a friend and she had almost perfect impulsion! Today I rode her all by herself and she actually went a little way from corral, which was more than I expected! I know a lot of it has been just letting her get settled, but another big part of her change is the bond that has come about between us as the result of lots of mistakes and some successes. That might sound weird, but honestly there was a time(I still feel this way sometimes)when I just didn't think I could ever get along with Marsan. Now I feel like we are ready to move forward :D