"I can pull harder than you can!"

Good evening All!
I went to see Brandy today. I stopped at a feed store first and bought some gloves because it was cold and numb hands are just no fun to work with at all. That was a trick because Brandy had never seen them before. "Oh boy! Are they going to eat me!?!" It took a few minutes for Brandy to accept my new hands and let me halter her, but once we were past that, she was pretty good.
Brandy's "good" behavior is relative to how you look at the session. Considering how far she's come about being comfortable with her surroundings, Brandy was excellent! I think that Brandy's owner took the Brandy of '07-'08 and switched her out with a different horse for '08-'09. However, with familiarity and intelligence (Brandy is really a smart horse) comes some sass...and Brandy had it today. As soon as I had her out on the lunge line, trotting abnormally quick around in a circle this thought went through my head: "She's got some energy today." Then I shrugged it off and kept warming her up. There are two ways to look at this session with Brandy. 1) Completely unsuccessful except for weight burning, or 2) Slightly successful in two areas. I think that I mentioned that Brandy has the habit of bolting every now and then. Today was both now and then. Let me rewind a little though, so that you understand something else. Brandy doesn't bend going one direction, so it is harder for her to turn in a circle at a fast pace. Normally, I warm up Brandy both directions and then ask for a canter/lope (as the campers say "canterloupe." Anyways, a little bunny trail there) going the direction that she does bend. However, today I decided to deviate from the routine way of doing things and begin cantering going the direction that Brandy doesn't bend. Bad idea. She didn't even give me a chance; just bolted. Then I had to give her a spanking (not literally, I just lunged her for awhile at a brisk trot until she licked her lips - an act of submission). Again I asked for the canter. Again she bolted. Again we had a spanking (again, not a real one). Third time's a charm, right? Wrong. This time I decided to go back to normal and we did a beautiful canter tracking left. And to be sure that Brandy didn't remember that she had succeeded in being disobedient, we returned tracking right.
"Come on, girl," I said to her (I talk to horses...frequently). "Just pick it up one time and we'll be done."
By this time, Brandy had had a pretty good workout and was rather tired, so I thought she would either just refuse and trot really fast, or submit and give me a nice, beautiful canter. We started with a nice trot, Brandy tossing her head and switching her tail. "I know you're tired, but just get it once."
I saw it coming. I off-set my canter cue with an "easy"...another cue..."Easy. Ea-"
She was gone.
Sometimes she bluffs and I just yank on the line and she stops. I thought I'd give it a try. I yanked...and then she yanked. Brandy is much, much stronger than I am. I stumbled and then slid for about a foot. I looked to my right and there beside me was a delicious pile of nice, green, horse manure. At least it wasn't under me. Brandy stood at the other end of the arena looking at me as if to say, "I can pull harder than you can." I lay there for a moment glad that no one was there to see me sliding through the dirt... and almost through the horse manure. I cooled her down, acknowledging that I had asked for it since she had clearly told me that she was tired. We walked around the yard, which is amazing to me because I wouldn't have done it last year.
So, shall we go with outlook #1 or outlook #2. I'm going to say #2 because: Brandy did get a lot of exercise (she can use it), and she really is doing very well at being confident and I'm glad that she doesn't jump at her own shadow anymore. Oh, and I learned that Brandy can pull harder than I can. All-in-all, a good day.