Well well well, this must have been, like, the best ride, like, EVERRRRRRRRR

Seriously - Catnip is so smart and learns so quickly once she figures out the right path. She makes up about seventyzillion possible paths and searches every one of them. But when she realizes she finds the right one, she just zooooms on down it!

We started out with the usual - No Catnip, one legs does NOT mean go. Right leg at the girth means move your wiggly shoulders left. Left leg does not mean go. Left leg at the girth means move your wiggly shoulders right.

Once we get that (this is a ritual now) then we re-realized that both legs DO mean go

Then we worked through the usual "if I'm going then I'm gonna go fast!" trotting. Spiral in circles work great for that

We survived something spooking near they very scary (been there for days) 100' of corrugated pipe laying beside the ring - I gain more confidence on her every time she spooks and doesn't do something stupid - she is SO spastic and airs-above-ground in the pasture that I can't help but know that in the back of my mind, 'cause if she did 1/2 of that under saddle, I'm history.

So after a few more rounds of "Go doesn't mean GOFAST!" she suddenly settled into a level-necked, steady, forward, even, notfast trot I almost fell off I was so shocked. It was literally like a light switch turning on (or off as the case may be ) 1....2....3...4...FIVE circles like that Of course there was the nose-to-the-toes circles too - gawd that's hard to ride, I don't have enough rein!

So we switched directions - back to the right. Her harder side. She pops that right shoulder in, swings her neck left, and flips her head right. No horse should look like that She was a bit speedy, but after about 2 circles, bam, that switch flipped and she was Steddy Eddy again

We quit on that

AND, in the midst of all of this, she took more than half of her w/t transitions WITHOUT throwing her head like an eggbeater.

By George, I think she's getting it!