What to do

I had good intentions of riding yesterday. I brought Coulee out and saddled her up. I was going to take her to the round pen, work her a bit and then ride her in there. I brought her over to visit Ted and Dave for a bit first, and Dave and I got to talking about her stiffness. I showed him how she doesn't like to bend her neck and just swings her hind end around instead of bending, and how tight she is in her shoulder muscles. The more we explored her, the less inclined I was to get on her. If she is so uncomfortable on the ground, she will be even more so with a bridle and a rider. I did do a little massage on her and got one tiny release of licking and chewing.
Shayla will be here this weekend and we'll do some body work on her, and I have a call in to my equine dentist- if I can't get him soon I'll have the vet do her - which I don't like doing because they are nowhere near as knowledgeable about equine dentistry as he is (at least, the vets available here - not every vet.)
So my question to you dear readers- would you just ride her and not ask for any flexing, ignore her discomfort and just keep her legged up by doing laps in an arena or go down the road, while waiting for the dentist appointment?
As for me- I believe that I can spend the time building my relationship with her by taking her out and doing bodywork, some hand grazing every day, and maybe some ground work over obstacles- she already walked over the big hay tarp that the farmers left on the ground all winter. While I'd love to just be riding her I don't want to start off by having a sore horse; I want to have a horse that's happy to be with me, a willing partner. And right now, I don't have that. I want to build that even if I have to wait.