She's got an itch and I think it's my saddle

We got to ride both Saturday and Sunday. Started Saturday with some groundwork, then rode her a bit bareback (I'm trying to do a little of this every time)and then we hit the trail. It was a nice day. Oh, I better go back to last Sunday. I had the new saddle and we were riding in the afternoon. Her feet are long because our ferrier was sick and I didn't want to do a lot of loping, but I wanted to do some. We took off and she headed right for a little irrigation ditch that was about a foot and a half deep and had a sandy mound on one side. I started to yield her hindquarters and it felt like she stepped in a hole, because down she went. I just stepped off. She tried to roll but the saddle horn kept her from going all the way over. I comforted her and finally she got up. Ranae had seen the whole thing and she said Jessie deliberately laid down. I responded it didn't feel that way, but she said she saw her knees buckle. Crap! She wanted to get that new saddle off and I comforted her.

Okay, back to last Saturday. We are riding and again she spots this sandy spot and stop, drops before I know it. I step off and this time I immediately get her up and start hustling her with lunging stage 2. She looks at me like "What the f?#! is your problem?" She kicks a little, rears a little, charges "kinda", and after about 5 minutes she starts licking her lips. Once she's back to herself I get back on have a pretty nice ride.

Sunday we rode with our friends part of the time and I could see her eye-ing every soft, sandy patch. I kept her feet moving and we didn't have another incident. I checked the sweat patterns and they are fine. I think the saddle is just a little stiff in places and she is shedding some hair and it doesn't really matter because this is our saddle, by god, and it fits good and she's just going to have to get used to it.

This morning we had a little workout before the ferrier came and she did excellent. She's backing up great. We back up through gates and she is learning to place her feet. She's side passing from the ground very well and ground ties while I pick her feet. I try to end every session with some bareback riding in the halter. My balance is getting better as is my mounting. I haven't trotted yet but we did some backing and side-passing this morning. It's a bit nerve wracking and quite fun at the same time.