Back to play..after a MONTH off

Well between travel, house stuff, family visiting, bad weather this week in the evening (when I usually get to the barn) and more family obligations I haven't ridden in a month. It always seems to amaze me how time just keeps flying by whether I go to the barn or not. It always seems that I take 1 step forward and then 2 steps back! Play consistently for awhile, then stuff comes up and I haven't done anything for a month (or more!). 

Tonight I finally got to play with Duck again. It was such a perfect night (minus the bugs) Just 70 degrees! I got to the barn around 8:30pm. Got Duck out although I confess I wasn't giving her my full attention. I was talking on my cell phone for a bit while I grazed, brushed and then saddled her. We moseyed to the round pen, there are still a few thresholds to the arena which I backed off, stopped and then progressed through.

In the round pen we did a few ground exercises and she seemed ready to ride. Wrong assumption. She was moving as I was mounting but it was mild enough to still ride. I could feel some RB creeping in. I was right, within a minute she was whinnying and looking around. I decided to get her busy and with a lot of energy. We backed (a lot), yielded hindquarters, drove her front end around etc. Then I quit, and waited. No change and she starting fidgeting again. Repeat. Then this time when we stopped I felt a change. She was much more relaxed and wanted to stand there. We stood there and did nothing. A big lick and chew and a huge sigh. After that she went much nicer but I made it short. We moved more as a unit in harmony after that and it reminded me of how soft and how little it can take to ask and get a response with Duck.

This also brought me to my next realization. It's not a new one for me but just glaringly obvious in situations like this. I think how much further she would be along with a much savvier partner than me. I can see that she is capable of much more and that I am am super slow, boring etc for her. That is painful for me because I really, really like her and want to be better!

Well enough of that. It is what it is and I am excited now! We are going for a trail ride on Sunday afternoon! A REAL trail ride! I can't wait! Hopefully Duck will be happy about it too, and it won't become a real RB situation. She usually does well but we've had over a month off. And I don't know if it is just me reading it more, or just a phase for her but we've been more unconfident/ RB ever since she's been here in NC. Especially at our new barn. There is so much going on all the time that she is distracted and I feel like I am just managing RB behavior instead of progressing. That is part of my problem, although before last month when everything flipped upside down we had started to make progress!

Back to square one, again....