first-day-back-itis

Seems to be getting better, although we still need to discuss her ground manners when she is excited.  I got to the barn yesterday at 3:30 and did not, in spite of my best intentions, ride.  It was cold, windy and since the barn is right up against the foothills, about to be dark.  I fed, patted and ran for home.
Today I got there in time to ride.  The first few minutes of balking, head swinging and teeth grinding had me grinding my teeth.  But in a reasonably short time she was trucking along nicely.  Turned into a good ride, did a little work over poles on the ground and I was happy with it.
I did have to tell another rider to get the hell out of my way.  There were four of us in an enormous outdoor arena and within 5 minutes of getting on her horse she had managed to stop directly in front of me twice.  At the time I was trotting a circle, about 30m, off the rail, digging a path in the damp footing.  We had been on this same circle since before she came into the arena.  How can you not know where I am going!  She did get better although she seemed to have to work in exactly the same area and when I moved over to the other side she did too.  This is lemming-like behavior, this lady is a nice person not somebody trying to get in the way, just clueless.  Nina pinned her ears at the poor horse a couple of times and he got out of her way.   I don't want to encourage that behavior but it does seem to work better to have her talk to the other horse than to have me talk to the other rider.
Still a good ride and a good day.