A couple of days ago I took Gypsy out for a ride to try out the cradle bridle I got earlier this year. I hadn't used it up to now because I wanted to work on softening Gypsy without a bit before introducing a bit again. She's actually been doing fairly well, so I thought I'd give it a try.
As long as she is in the paddock, she's pretty soft and responsive. But once I get her out of the paddock and take her down the road, she goes right-brained and a forward-aholic. Keeping her to a walk is a challenge. She definitely did better this time out that she did the last time (her first outing this year back in March), but she was still pulling more than I would like. When she would speed up while we were still in the subdivision, I would circle her until she slowed or stopped. But once we were on the County road, there really wasn't any space to do that safely, so we got in a bit of a tug-of-war. Again, she was softer than she usually is, but not as soft as I would like. She still roots and pulls and tosses her head too much. I think maybe I better just keep her in the paddock for a while and work on her softness there before taking her out again. Next time I ride her I'll work on the "million transitions" ... maybe that will help get her more responsive and softer. I might have been able to do some of those while on the road, but she really didn't have a down transition and every time I asked her to slow down, she would toss her head and root into the bit. Or if I stopped her, she would paw the ground impatiently.
Displaced right-brained behaviour, right? I guess I'm pushing her out of her comfort zone too soon.
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