Papillon's rules for horse and rider

So I rode all three of my mares today. Lady was a little sore, but not much, so I wanted to see if she would be upset about being ridden. She was OK, she wasn't really very happy about seabreeze but all she did was a little unauthorized trotting, a little head shaking, and some trotting sideways. Pretty standard for her actually. 

Star was ok at the walk, and we trotted, and she was an absolute nutjob. I thought she was going to fall over sometimes the way she leaned into the circle. (well, "circle")  Sometimes she also threw her shoulder out and trotted along sideways like an angry crab. I, like an idiot, spent way too much time staring at her instead of looking where I was goint. There's just something fascinating about watching her be nutty. I have got to break that habit. Also, I have got to put my thighs on the saddle better when we're trotting, even when we're trotting like a crazed motorcycle-crab hybrid. 

Dylan was more of the same, Robert says its time to switch back to insisting that he walk when he's told and then trot only when he's told. I've done this part with kitty rose and annabelle last summer. Its annoying, it makes your arms and your wrists hurt, but it doesn't take more than a day or two before they get the picture. Hopefully Dylan will be about the same.

I took Papillon out, even though she was limping at the trot a little. Sortof a theme for the day I guess. Robert says she's probably arthritic so we need to start giving her some bute and as long as she's willing to go, we should work her. He said lots of walking. Well, we walked 1.6 miles, a.k.a. two times around the field. Then we went back and worked in the arena. Rather than trying to recount the whole event, I found that Papillon has some rules that she follows fairly strictly

Horse Rules:

1. Dont stop when you can walk
2. Dont walk when you can trot
3. Dont trot if you can canter
4. When your rider says "walk" they mean "trot"
5. When your rider says "trot" they mean "canter"
6. If you want to get away with a little trotting, be super collected and maybe she wont notice
7. When asked to trot, always trot as fast, and as extended as you can, then she wont notice when you're cantering (yeah, right)
8. If the ground is squishy, walk, but make sure you do a little bit of prancing, to let your rider know you expect to be trotting ASAP
9. If there is an especially squishy spot, be sure to trot away from that spot as soon as your back legs have cleared it
10. Once you've started cantering DO NOT under any circumstances, stop
11. Sometimes when you start trotting your rider will sit really deep in her saddle and get really heavy and make it hard to trot, if you walk she will get light in her seat again. Take this opportunity to trot.
12. In the arena, its ok to walk when you're told, but your trot still needs to be huge
13. When traveling on the long side of the arena towards the gate, speed up
14. When traveling on the short side towards the gate, speed up and flip your head and try to sidepass towards the gate so you can escape and go back to the field
15. When traveling on the long side away from the gate, you may as well speed up, since its the long side and thats pretty fun
16. On the short side away from the gate, relax, you've earned it
17. Posting the trot is a tacit invitation to canter
18. Sitting the trot means that she wants you to canter now
19. If you're outside and she wants you to trot, if you're not cantering, make sure to throw your shoulder out hard, run sideways, if she tries to turn you or straighten you out, just stop moving. That'll show her. 
20. Even though she's annoying, and she is constantly telling you to break the above rules, dont throw your rider, she is your friend. Without her they put you back in your stall, which is dull. 

My plan is to take a crop next time and try to replace most of the above rules with: Do what the lady says!