Amazing Weekend

I rode Izzy yesterday and today and she has been great. I'm finally able to get her up off her right shoulder a little, which makes left lead canter circles dramatically easier. (YAY! We can turn.) I meant to work on taking her out on straight, long lines at the canter to improve her balance today, but we started by doing some walk/trot transitions. Her first one was lovely. No resistance, no pushing up into my hands. We did another. Same. I let the reins out a bit and we walked. Without picking up the reins, I softened her mouth just the tiniest bit and asked for another transition.

She did it. Same, soft, lovely motion she'd done before, only this time she stretched all the way through it. We walked and lengthened the reins and did one more transition. She was lovely.

Then the stupid neighbor kid started zooming around on his battery powered car behind a wood fence so all Izzy knew was that she could see shadows behind the fence and hear weird noises. I could have made her work through it, but after the lovely relaxation she'd been demonstrating, I just let her be done.

And did I mention that I didn't lunge her today or yesterday? Yep, she's fiinally developing her adult brain. Today she seemed to have a little sauce, so I did warm her up with a few big trot circle on a long rein, but she didn't even offer to do anything silly.

Have I mentioned that I love my horse today? What a wonderful girl.

As an aside, I've been worrying about Izzy a little bit. I really want to jump again, but I don't know if she does. I keep wondering what I'll do if she's not a jumper... dressage is great, but I really want to have a go at those fences again. Then again, even if she doesn't jump, if she stays this amazing, it might not matter. We'll see.