Back to the field!

 We tried to go back to our happy place today! And it was a beautiful day for it!! Fall is coming!!!!

I caught her pretty easily today although at the last second she tried to dip out. Once she was caught she was good though. We headed to Ashland and hit the trails. We started out just hacking the hills and then we did a little trotting in the field. She was super quick and runny. I tried to not get in her face but I had to a little bit. But she did kind of settle a tiny bit. We did a little canter too. It wasn't a soft dressage canter... but it wasn't a gallop either. ;) I let her stretch out though... I just didn't ask for a full gallop because I was in the dressage saddle. 

 

Then we headed back to the hills and back to walking. We ended up in the cross country course and did some more trotting. She was borderline bolting so... I had to get a bit tougher than I was hoping. I tried trotting in the water complex to see if that would settle her. Nope, not really. I mean, maybe she slowed down a hair but she was still braced. Ugh. We went back to the field and did some small circles and she eventually settled a bit and we got some nice work. We did lots of serpentines and smaller circles. And then we got some decent work with a soft contact and then we trotted up the hill and she stayed soft! Win! 

   

Then because I'm me... we headed to the dressage arena and went in and did a BN test. Or something close to the test. I couldn't remember it exactly but it was it more or less. She was fussy and inconsistent but not terrible. But not that good either, so we did a few more minutes of trotting and managed to get some nice work so we quit. 

 

I think I may go back to incorporating some lunging into her routine to see if I can help get her more balanced again and help her neck topline again. But that won't necessarily do anything for her connection distrust... unless I break down and use sidereins.