Yes, it's the first time she's been sat on in probably a month or two. Yes, she was just a tad fussy and annoyed. Yes, she was terribly distracted by the construction going on in the barn, the giant 2-legged's on ladders, the many horses coming in and out, and the water buckets being dumped in the arena (seriously, SO not safe!!!! At least not with that footing!) However, on the whole she was willing and did what I asked of her, EXCEPT canter.
I will give her the benefit of the doubt on this one. She has never flat-out refused to canter, but it does take some fast, unbalanced trot before she breaks into it. And I'm perfectly OK with that: as we progress in training, we can start to smooth out the transitions until they are light and instantaneous, but until then I just want her to get to the canter. Today, she wanted no part in that. I'd ask, trying to make it as easy as possible for her by getting her on a 20 m. circle, sitting deep through my inside seat and thigh and turning my torso slightly to the inside. Her response? Head in the air, mad-fast trot, limbs everywhere....we did this a few times until I FINALLY got her to take it. We got it once in both directions, and that was it. Done. I didn't ask for more. She seemed so flustered when I asked, it was like no on had every posed the question before. I know she's very green at the canter, but once she got it she was fine. Getting there, however, was hell.
Perhaps she's sore. It's very possible, even likely. So tomorrow is a massage day, to see if these magic fingers can find anything. I'm sure she needs it. Then we'll try again Saturday. She's worked hard the past 4 days straight, so tomorrow may be a relaxing day of turnout and pampering.
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