Terrible 2's? How about terrible 4's?

Rose's lip ulcer's have heeled up. There is still a bit of cap hanging onto her incisors, but they are no longer irritating her lip. That meant it was time to get back in the saddle. Given that she'd had a couple weeks off, she was pretty decent on Saturday, or at least right in line with what I had expected. I skipped the barn on Sunday in a vein attempt to pretend to be doing something to enjoy the holiday weekend, given that the weather cancelled our camping/lake/boating plans. As such, Sunday turned into home improvement and errand day, and a day off for Rose. Then there was today. For some reason Rose relapses from time to time, and tries stupid tricks that did her no good when she was younger, but for some reason she gives them a go again anyway. That pretty much sums up our ride from this afternoon.

In case you'd like the play by play, here it is:
It's raining and cold so I decide that we will ride inside. I start Rose off on walk transitions, collected walk to a lengthened walk. Back and forth. She's doing great, really listening to leg and seat and I'm pleased. Then we round the corner and head down the long side to where the bleachers are, and..."HOLY CRAP THERE IS A MOUNTAIN LION LIVING IN THOSE JUMP STANDARDS!" exclaims Rose as she leaps the the inside of the arena doing everything possible to avoid walking past the jump standards and to ignore me. Red faced, I quickly apologize to the two other riders in the arena who politely chuckle and tell me it's okay. Note: their horses didn't even flinch at our little Lipizzaner esq movements while in their immediate vicinity.

"So" I thought to myself "it's gonna be one of those days, and yep it is Monday". So, we spent a good half hour going back and forth past the horrid jump standards, and eventually she gave up the ghost and stopped spooking. That didn't deter her from tossing her head and nose in the air non-stop through our ride. That little trick hasn't been around in a while, so I was a bit perplexed, not to mention frustrated with her. I haven't ruled out that it might be a bit fit issue as I recently adjusted her bridle, but I'm fairly certain it had more to do with attitude than anything else. All in all, she ended up getting a rather long ride, until she was finally cooperative about the spooking and head tossing. On the bright side, I did get some lovely walk lengthenings out of her and a few moments of very nice balanced sitting trot...right before she'd throw her head in the air. I can't wait for Tuesday.

Happy trails and swooshing tails!