Love your photos! I especially like the one going over the little bridge...boy, was that a deja vu for me! I used to have the very same thing in the arena when I was retraining exracers!

I think retraining the exracers is very rewarding and it's amazing how quickly they learn. I love the idiosyncracies you find with some, like those who can't figure out how to step on different ground when it changes (like going from sand to grass) or those who jump over their shadows or the sun rays coming through the indoor arena. The scary ones I've worked with are those trained to balance on the jockey's hands so that if you drop the reins, they fall flat on their face. That was more of a challenge to get beyond when trying to train them for self carriage. But all in all for me it is a great experience.

Have a tried the bombproofing your horse book exercises at all? I have an exracer now who is more spooky and ultra sensitive than the ones I've worked with previously. I had a lot of laughs trying to do the bombproofing exerices with her. Her spookiness is getting better, but it used to be a really ugly production of bolting or rearing. Now it's down to a wiggle, snort and scoot sometimes but it's taking time. (Actually, I changed her feed, and eliminated every bit of oats, and her spookiness reduced significantly. Interesting. Everyone always says it's the molasses or sugar that get them fired up, but for this one, oats seemed to be a real negative.)

Am going to try to show her in dressage this year. My only concern is trotting down center line to the judge's gazebo.