Back to Reality

After Saturday's excellent lesson, I was pretty keen to try for a repeat performance on Sunday.
I can now confirm that a good percentage of our apparent genius on Saturday was due to Trainer Girl's eagle eye and constant corrections.

Sunday ride recap:
The Good-
-Ginger was excellent while I groomed and tacked up. The barn was super busy and there was a crew in doing some upgrades to the indoor. Machinery and power tools were involved and Ginger was actually a bit ho hum about it all.
-We worked into the ride and had some very good moments at the end. A little more rusty feeling than on Saturday, but pretty close to great. I feel like there's hope that I can do this on my own.

The Bad-
-There was a "new" black barrel standing next to the gate. Ginny was sure it contained some kind of super nasty horsey plague.
-Things generally felt a little stiffer and more awkward and longer to warm up to. I know it was partly because she was a little less relaxed than the previous day, but mostly it was because I was not riding as well :( Which makes me frustrated with myself, especially because she is so sensitive and picks up on that little bit of extra tenseness from me and gets worried.

The Ugly-
-She spooked and tried to bolt off. Her mouth is super sensitive as well, so although I didn't yank, I was caught a bit off guard and was more firm than normal and she had a bit of a meltdown thinking she couldn't go forward :( The line is so fine, I swear. The same amount of pressure would be something Lainey would call a half halt.. So for a bit I had worried pony trying to do a very speedy trot, then overreacting to a very quiet half halt in a very big way. Leap forward at the slightest close of my leg, then essentially try to slide to a stop when I closed my outside rein that tiny bit.

We did get it sorted out at the end, and got some really nice relaxed work.  I have to remember these 'moments' were a pretty common thing a few months ago, and at one point affected us both for the rest of the lesson. Now it seems something we can work back out of fairly quickly - we have more trust in each other these days, I think. This is all new to me because I've always had horses that, if anything, need to be more responsive. Ginger can be most reactive horse that even some  experienced riders and trainers have seen, so I'm on quite a steep learning curve trying to find the right feel.
We ended the day with a quick visit to the hayfield for a treat, then I put her out with her friends where she galloped around like a maniac. Those big feet make it sound like a whole herd is coming! i tried to get photos, but it wasn't meant to be so you're stuck looking at an old (but cute!) one: