Riding skills improving

Yesterday I rode Drifter in the indoor ring. I lunged her first, just to work her harded then she is going under staddle at this point. We worked at W-T-C, she continues to have difficulty with the right lead canter, but it is improving. Then I got on her. I mounted from the right, which startled her a little again. So, I dismounted and remounted from the left to give her a good experience.



We worked on steering and some speed/gait control. This time we got to TROT! Hooray. She went nicely into the trot with good speed control and balance. She stayed pretty round throughout the transition, only loosing forward momentum on the downward transition.



After trotting in both directions, I dismounted and took her outside. I remounted from a mouting block for the first time. Then I rode her from the indoor ring to the barn. We were outside without a fence or any boundaries and she did great. There were no differences between her affect inside or outside.

On Saturday, I rode with two other horses in the ring! She was very good with the first horse at the walk and trot, both coming towards her and up behind her. However, when the second horse entered the ring- she was puffed up, nickering and not paying attention. She was paying attention to her pasturemate in the ring with her! I worked to keep her walking and paying attention to me. I did have to dismount one time when she got her tongue over the bit. I remounted in the ring on the right side and she startled a little bit, but the two other horses were both moving around at the same time. I hope to have better experiences with riding her with other horses in the coming days. She did really well with one horse that she didn't know, but two horses (one her pasture mate) was a real challenge.

She is really coming along under saddle at this point though. She is moving off my leg aids, moving away from my leg aids and her sterring is improving.