Gia - session 38 - more riding, less grain

I was out of town for about a week, so Gia was out of work.  I had Katie lunge her with the boat bumpers for quite a while this morning before I got on her.  Katie said she was a little grumpy at times, but mostly she did what Katie asked her to do.  Once Gia was warmed up, I took her to the mounting block and hopped on with no grain and no problems.  Actually, she seemed very ready to get to work.  She wanted to stay in the middle of the round pen with Katie and the grain that she knew Katie had, but once I got her out to the rail, she was ready to trot with very little effort on my part.  She seems to understand that in order to get a little treat, she has to trot and maintain her trot.  I am starting to reduce the amount of grain she gets, so she only got a treat after she had done the required number of trot steps without stopping.  I started with 5, and added one step each time until I had gotten 10 steps in each direction.  She managed to do that with me only having to remind her to keep going a few times.  And her trot felt less sluggish and less like she was thinking about stopping. 

Once I got to that point, I hopped off (with no assistance from the grain), and led her down to the arena, where I got back on.  I did not use any grain at all to reward Gia once I was in the arena.  I basically allowed her to wander around the arena and explore all the places, and I allowed her to have a bite of grass if she was brave about something. She was a little braver today than last time.  Last time, she basically just stayed at one half of the arena.  Today, she braved the entire arena, although some areas were a little scarier.  When she would get nervous and prick her ears and lift her head to check something out, I allowed her to stand still, but she had to keep looking at whatever it was (a shovel, some barrels, the ducks, etc.).  Once she relaxed and lowered her head and took a deep breath, I asked her to move forward again.  I was able to get her to go all the way around the arena in both directions at a walk.  And, by the end, her walk felt more forward and less hesitant.  I had her walk to the scariest part of the arena for me to dismount.  In that way, she learns that that area of the arena actually holds a reward for her, and it will become less scary over time.  I was tempted to trot with her in the arena again today, but I decided not to get too greedy yet.  I would like for her to feel more comfortable in the arena at the walk before we attempt that.  I think one more day like today, and we will be ready to leave the round pen for good though!