Trail ride and a few steps back

A week ago Drifter and I had a good, but really intense ride. We worked on walk/canter transitions and simple change of lead. She still has trouble with her right lead, but I wanted to get in several good canter departs. The first right lead depart was probably her best ever. I thought about quitting with that perfect depart, but I didn't. I pushed. She did several nice left and right departs. She began to fatigue and began stopping in the middle of the ring. We finished with one more good one to the left and called it a day.

On Friday she had her feet trimmed before our ride. I started with a new saddle pad and new footing in the arena. As soon as a got on Drifter she stopped and planted her feet. I got off and trotted her in hand and she looked sound. I changed her saddle pad. I got back on and as soon as she felt my leg aids she stopped and balked- no backwards, but no forward either. It took the "pony club kick" to get her to walk and she stopped several times in the first 10 minutes. We finally got some forward at walk and trot to the left. When ever I changed to the right bend she would stop. Wash, rinse, repeat until she will trot a circle to the right. I wonder if she is body sore from the cantering on Tuesday or if it really just overwhelmed her. We trotted in the outdoor ring and the dressage ring to reinstall forward in all three riding areas. To end I figured we would walk out to the field/trail and back. She was totally relaxed and forward when walking out to the trail, so we just kept walking. We did our first trail ride, alone, around the field/trail that's closest to the barn. She was so brave and good. She did one little spook in place, but then moved right along. I didn't know whether to focus on the ring issues or the trail success.

Today we just continued to focus on trotting forward in both directions. I started her on the lunge line and she was unable to pick up the right canter lead on the lunge, but I didn't drill her about it. I got on and rode and only one or two little hesitations at the trot when I put my leg on.

I learned an important lesson about how hard/far I can push her.