Success?

Wow, I know it's been a long time since I've posted.

Been progressively working with Gunny outside in the outdoor arena. The last two lessons I asked her to lope, and I gave her her head. She pinned her ears, yes, but she didn't throw her head and she went into the lope and maintained a pretty rhythmic gait that wasn't too fast nor too slow. She hasn't ducked off the rail at all, which I'm very proud of her for. I'm gaining trust in her again. However, I did try to do circles, and she drops her shoulder a lot. That could be from the lunging initially, or me dropping MY shoulder. I tried very hard to keep my leg on her, and sit up straight, but she still did it. That might be something we need to work on...after I did circles, she got hyped up and wanted to go fast...which makes sense, since that's what she was used to with round penning and lunging. I just don't want to back track. I think the saddle pad is helping, which might be the original head throwing problem...the saddle. Either that or me asking her to collect too much, and she couldn't. Either way, she's getting better and I'm proud. I just don't want to back track. Tomorow, going to work on slow, back, walk/trot stuff. Maybe a little loping, but not too much.