Day 2 on Filly

Rode Filly in the afternoon under the watchful eye of Josh. She was pretty upset having been separated from her field mate for a long time and so it took a while to get her thinking to me at all during the prepare to ride. To start I just wanted to get her following a feel on the circle, so every time she leant on the halter to look outside the circle I just stepped backwards until she softened and then let her walk on again. Once I had her attention (i.e have horse catch you), we continued the plan to the saddle part. Some trouble with stand still here, but Josh helped by making my phases softer. I am still struggling to adapt from Bonitao to the incredibly light phases Filly needs. Not that Bonitao is heavy, 4 ounces or less for most things, but Filly takes severe offence at anything over 4 ounces and starts to argue.
Once saddled the prepare to ride was mainly zone 3 driving with transitions followed by lots of indirect/direct rain to really get her soft and thinking to her feet. Then it was time to mount. On the first attempt she drifted a lot and I had to lift high on the rein until she stopped, then step down again. The next attempt was all but perfect.
Once on board we went to the usual of lateral flexions, just hanging in there until she stopped moving and yielded with her neck. This didn't take long to achieve. Then on to indirect reins, waiting until they were soft and relaxed rather than just mechanically performed prior to releasing the pressure. This took a fair time, during which it started to rain, hard !! Still I was not going to be out focussed by the weather and we just kept going until we got some really nice yields.
From there we moved to inside leg isolations to get some good circles. Filly bends around her leg well but also takes the leg aid as a cue to start trotting. It took a while to convince her that just one leg meant bend her body onto a circle, not go faster. Again I found that lightness was the key.
We then moved to linking circles via the figure 8 pattern which was a challenge, again the problem being maintain gait at walk not trot. Once this was done to Josh's satisfaction we had some free time, which I just spent trying to follow the rail at walk. Follow the rail was easy but, Filly, not everything has to mean trot ! Once I had managed a whole lap at walk we left it at that. I then spent quite a while just sitting and chatting with Josh while we got a nice relaxed standstill from her. As soon as she softened at the halt I jumped off to reward that behaviour.
In summary; A fun ride which followed on from the last one in emphasising how much I have to focus and how light I have to be with my cues to get a nice response from Filly. To build rapport I turned her out as quickly as I could, then took her feed to the field next to hers, re-caught her and took her to it. Then spent a chilled ten minutes watching her eat and just enjoying her company.