Gia - session 20 - Gia gets a new handler (for a day)

I know it's been a while since I have blogged about Gia.  I have had a LOT going on at the farm lately, along with a brief get-away, so I haven't been able to work with her since the horse show a few weeks ago.  Today, I was busy as usual, but I had one of my advanced students grooming and tacking for me.  When we talked about working with Gia, I said that I probably wouldn't have time to get to her again today.  Katie casually mentioned that she wouldn't mind working with her, if I wanted.  Katie knows how to do most of the stuff that Gia has been working on anyway, so I thought, why not?  It would be good to see how Gia did for someone else too.  So, I explained, in detail, what we had been doing, and set them to work.  I asked Katie to write about her experience with Gia today, and I've included it below.  Enjoy!

Hey everyone!

I worked Gia today for my first time, and she’s fun to work with! When I brought her in, she was pretty tense because there was a lot of activity going on, but even though she was nervous, she still handled being groomed and tacked like a pro. She was super patient for me when I was learning how to put a Western saddle on (which I’ve never done before). After she was all tacked up and ready to go, we headed up to the round pen for her work with the boat bumpers. Again, I have never worked her before, so I don’t know how she is normally, but when I attached the bumpers by her girth area and started free lunging her, she was great! She didn’t hesitate at the walk and trot and was licking and chewing the whole time with her head down. After we worked on that for a bit, I moved the bumpers back to her flank area. I put her on a lunge line for this, just so I’d have more control if she bucked. She was annoyed with the bumpers there at first. She did try to buck a couple times, and each time I pulled on the line until she stopped bucking. We did this a couple of times until she was quiet. Then I changed directions with her, and after that she was perfect! She went back to trotting quietly with her head down and licking and chewing. We did that both directions, but she didn’t even consider bucking after the first few minutes. Overall, she was great, and I hope to work with her more in the future!


-Katie

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gia - session 955 - lesson at CDP

 I had a lesson with Hayley today at CDP.  Gia felt great today!  We started with a nice, crisp walk, and then moved right into a forward trot.  We worked all over the ring with changes of direction and in a good, steady tempo, we also worked on lengthening and collecting the trot.  Gia was nicely obedient to everything I asked her to do.  When I first asked for the canter, I forgot to keep my arms soft, so it didn't last more than a few steps.  But the second time, I remembered, and stayed a little off her back as well.  It started awkward, and counterbent, but as I stayed soft and following with my seat and arms, she eventually figured out what to do with her body, and started to come nicely around my inside leg.  We did the same thing in the other direction (which is usually her bad direction), but it went really well!  We decided to quite while we were ahead after that!  Hopefully, this ride will carry into this weekend for the show! 
Read more

Gia - session 956 and 957 - War Horse schooling and show

 I took Gia to the War Horse schooling and show this weekend at the Carolina Horse Park.  When I got on Saturday morning, she started out quite tense - wanting to go up in the front, and up in the back as well, but not really wanting to go forward.  I finally did get her forward, eventually, and slowly, and we made it to the stadium warm up.  After warming up with some trot, and over a few jumps, we schooled the stadium course.  She was a bit nervous, but did OK otherwise.  So, on to cross country schooling.  She felt fairly the same on cross country - a little nervous, but at least by that time, she was moving forward.  She was a bit nervous about a couple of the jumps, and some of the soggy ground.  We "discussed" it, and then she was able to get over/through it.  She felt a lot more confident by the end. On Sunday, she felt fine when I got on for dressage.  I warmed her up in the grass, near the barns, first, where she could stay calmer.  She was fairly responsive and rela
Read more

Gia - session 947 - lesson at CDP

 I took Gia to CDP for a lesson today.  She was very good with her shipping boots this morning - no drama at all!.  She was also pretty good for getting on the trailer, with me on the off side.  She did get her head a little stuck on the wrong side of the divider, but I quickly got it unstuck, and she was good to go. I warmed Gia up deep and low at the walk and trot with lots of changes of bend and direction, all over the ring.  She was a bit spooky and resistant, but we worked through it, and she started to settle down, relax, and stretch her neck out a little.  I added canter transitions, and those went fairly well.   Susan worked with us today.  She had me focus on Gia's rhythm and the timing of her footfalls at all gaits.  She also had me focus on my straightness in the saddle and my alignment with Gia, as well as Gia's straightness on the circle, and through changes of direction.  We worked through transitions between the gaits, and they gradually improved, and I felt Gia
Read more