Play with the horse that shows up

I was planning, yesterday, to spend some time playing OL and Freestyle in the arena. Let me say, the arena has been my nemesis. I'm much more comfortable riding up the mountain with the cows. My horse and I have had a couple bad experiences in the arena and it became a threshold for me. We did have a great experience there last month when David Lichman visited, so I've been going back some, but have not made a program of it. AFter watching the new L3 videos I was very motivated to do just that. So off we went. The arena had a few people in it, so I began playing OL with the 22' rope outside the arena. Things were going okay in the beginning, but she wasn't truly connecting, so I tried to get more interesting by changing things up. Each time she pulled out of the circle, I said "go sideways". Each time she ate grass, I did the same. I used change of direction when she didn't maintain gait. She went from okay to "Now I'm not happy with you; I want to eat grass". I ignored that and tried to match her energy, which didn't go too high considering what I've seen her do in the past. I kept my music playing and remained calm throughout. Yeah!! Personal victory. Still listening to "Hey Soul Sister" by Train:-) She had a couple RB moments and really became hyper alert at the pond nearby. There are lots of tall grasses and bushes/trees around, so she could hear things she couldn't see. I did lots of retreat and sideways and backup. At one point, she went to eat grass while on the circle after we had retreated and I looked at her and thought she might be sticking her head in the sand. She looked a bit introverted so I decided not to put more pressure on her, just wait and see. Lots of blinking while eating grass. Eventually, she began to look like she wasn't introverted and was breathing naturally, so I began playing again. She wasn't totally RB, but she was unconfident about the pond, so I decided to change my plan and take as long as we needed to build her confidence. Tested the squeeze game between me and the pond from far away. Jesse did it, but wasn't confident. Turn and face. Back up/retreat. Lick and Chew. Do it again. We did this until she was squeezing between me and the pond confidently, then moved closer. Each time she would lick and chew after a squeeze, or put her head down to look for grass, I'd start again. Eventually, she was right next to the pond eating grass and calm. The best part of this was that I had a strategy and wasn't worried about what people around me were thinking. I felt confident and was only concerned about doing what the horse needed. Breakthrough for me! My horse asked me so many questions and seemed to be looking to me for comfort throughout. Beautiful!! I put on her bridle and rode up the mountain to go through the cows. She did try to eat grass some and had her opinions about which way to go, but never was there an argument. I practiced indirect and direct rein and follow the trail with the fence and paths in the pasture. My horse walked under the fly rope hung for the cows when I lifted it very confidently. We cantered and trotted to work on purity of gait. She was calm, cool, and collected with both. Didn't maintain gait perfectly, but definite progress:-) Stopped with my energy from both. I didn't cry, but came awfully close:-) She didn't take the left lead, but did take the right lead when I put my right arm forward and tickled her with my left hand. We'll do bowtie to work at that left lead. She did pick up both leads OL. What a journey!