Figure Eights and Canter Strides

I finally got my husband to come out and take pictures of Miss Jonza, and I think the one above is just soo cool in an artistic way. She is doing really well. A few days ago I asked for the canter and got three decent canter strides out of her before she fell into a pace. On the lunge she is really cantering nicely....even though it does start off with a gallop that she will slow down a bit into a canter. She also changes her leads constantly on the lunge! So we may even be able to utilize that in the future ;). She has a pretty decent little canter. We just need to work on that a bit. I've decided we aren't doing any canter transitions unless I feel she is really with me for that day.

Yesterday was a full out battle the whole ride, today she was completely different. Although she was stiff and resistant today, she finally let go of that by the end of it, and was able to do some decent stretchy trot circles without putting her head as high as it could go and flying around the arena! We are definately progressing. She's getting the leg yeild thing, and the serpentine bend of direction. What she has been having a hard time with is just bending her neck to my toes just to stretch and give....not to move anywhere. I've been trying to get her used to changing bends and have been doing a lot of figure eights and serpentines. I have to read up in some of my training excercises books to find some fresh ideas to keep her entertained. She gets impatient and gets bored easily. C'est la vie ;).