All The Kings' Horses

 I'm a little behind on my blog posts so I will try to catch up a couple at a time.  Last week on Wednesday Gia and I worked on our flat work. We did a little bit at the walk, trot, and canter. First I worked on getting her to go forward. Then I added in a bit of straightness. I would alternate asking for a little bit of forward then a little bit of straightness, then a little bit of forward, then a little bit of straightness. It helped her that I did not try to ask for both at the same time. she seems to get confused when I do. We also worked on transitions moving up into each gate. She is getting better about responding, especially since she is being less resistant to my aids to go forward. Finally, I started to add a little bit of collection to the work. Only a little bit, and at the very end. I try not to collect her by using my hands, but rather by leaning backward and engaging my back muscles. And I want to keep using my leg and forward aids to keep her impulsion. She di...

 Gia and I did a little more of the same work today that we did yesterday.  The only difference today is that she understood things a little better, and we were able to work through things a little quicker.  We also worked a little bit over some small jumps, but nothing spectacular.  Finally, we worked a little more at the canter today than we did yesterday.  It was rough at first, but once she got through the resistant part at the beginning, it got a lot better!  I just had to stay very clear with my aids, and clearly alternate between going forward and asking her to move off my leg.  I think she even felt a little relief at the end because it was all starting to make more sense.

 I worked with Gia on her flatwork today.  We started by relaxing at the walk, and just wandering around the ring.  She had a little more natural impulsion today.  When I was ready to make my first request, I applied a very thoughtful and light leg aid, in rhythm with her walk.  When she didn't respond, I added a tap of the whip.  She immediately became anti-forward/ "youcan'tmakemedothis"/ Iwillnevergoforwardagain.  I had been noticing something like this in her recently, but I wasn't quite sure if that's what it was or not, so I had been giving her the benefit of the doubt, just in case.  But I had gone through all the doublechecks, and nothing else was wrong or incorrect.   So, I just kept tapping, very nonchalantly, with the whip, as if I could care less if we got a reaction or not. (they feed hungrily off your emotions, you know 😉).  As soon as I did get a reaction, begrudgingly though it was, I completely relaxed everything, ...

I warmed Gia up on Friday with a main focus on impulsion first.  She was a bit resistant to go forward to begin with.  I doublechecked I wasn't applying any opposing aids, or sending any mixed messages, and then I gently kept asking her to move on.  When she responded, I immediately relaxed and verbally rewarded her before asking again.  That part is soooo important to her, especially.  She gets mad at me if I don't reward her. 😂 (Not my version of the jump, but where I got the idea.) As she became more forward, we were able to work on becoming more supple and straight, and then we got to jump.  We had to stay close by, since the vet was here for spring check ups, in case he needed to chat with me.  So we didn't go out in the field, but that gave us a chance to play with the box jump that I had set up in the arena for everyone else to play with, but had yet to play with myself.  Gia mostly trotted it.  I was hoping she would trot in an...

 I've been crazy busy this week, so no time to write.  Gia and I worked on flatwork on Monday and Wednesday, with jumping on Tuesday.   On Monday we focused on impulsion and suppleness.  We mostly stayed at the walk, and worked on her responsiveness to my cue.  I want her to pay more attention to the tiniest cue I can give her, so I only gave her leg cues that would feel like I'm touching her like you would touch your touchscreen phone - using no muscle at all.  When she didn't respond at all, or promptly, I reinforced the cue with a tap of the whip.  Eventually, she was moving much more forward, with hardly any effort on my part.  Then I worked on encouraging her to bend her ribcage around my inside leg, and we finished with a nice, long stretch! On Tuesday we went out to the field and focused on impulsion, straightness and obedience to the aids.  Once she was forward, I could start to ask her to become straighter, by keeping my positi...

 I took Gia to the Portofino dressage show yesterday to do the Starter A test.  This would be her first time cantering at a show since her surgery.  Warm up went fairly well.  She was a little nervous, but nothing out of the ordinary.  She had great energy, was nicely forward, and I was able to work on suppling her and straightening her.  When we worked on the canter, she was fairly obedient.  I came a little out of the stirrups to allow her to balance without the interference of my seat.  She cantered around for quite a bit in both directions.   Then I went to finish our warm up by running through our test.  Suddenly, she was tight, anxious, not listening to my aids, and everything I asked her to do was interpreted as "canter?"  I worked through her sudden change as best I could, as she also threw in a few bucks, showing her displeasure,  here and there.  We sort of had it together by the time we had to go in, but no...