Woot, Woot, Go Ana!

For the last couple weeks, riding about four times, my sister has been working with Ana getting her to stop, back up, and stand still. My sister would first start out cantering Ana, which takes about half an hour, until her head dropped. Then she would do that routine of stopping, backing up, and standing still. I rode Ana today, and I am really happy, because she was calm and never tried to go faster than a walk. I didn't canter her for 30 minutes either. She actually hadn't been ridden since Friday. But she was awesome. When I walked her out to the paddock it took me two times of moving her hindquarters to get her to stand still when I put my foot in the stirrup. I was actually pleasantly surprised because it was amazing how quickly she responded to the reigns when I asked her to stop. I didn't have to use a lot of pressure on the reigns. When I asked her to back up she would go six steps and stop. I just asked her to go further than that. I also did flexing. Flexing is when you bring the horses's nose to their stomach. What she normally does when you flex her is the moment you let her head go back to its normal position she starts walking again. The first time I flexed her she moved a step. I backed her up and flexed her again. This time she didn't move. I did the same with the other side, and she didn't move. I did it again later, flexing her side to side at least six times. She did not move the entire time.