Lily - Riding Neepery

Lily has been doing really, really well for me under saddle the past month. I had given up hoping she would ever do this well. She is doing so well that I have an almost superstitious fear of mentioning it: her improvement over last summer seems almost magical. Last summer, when she wasn't cranky about saddle fit she was backing off from whatever bit I put in her mouth. I finally stopped riding her in anything but her western saddle and started using a mild hackamore instead of a bit.

( Long essay behind the cut )