Gia - session 44 - It's been a while ...
Since I had camp last week, I did not get a chance to work with Gia. So, I decided to start today's session off with a bit of free lunging/natural horsemanship in the arena. And I am definitely glad I did! If there was any hint of Arabian horse in Gia, we definitely saw it this morning! Her tail was very high over her head, her neck was extremely arched, and she had the most suspenseful, floaty trot as she was zooming around the arena at mach speeds! I am definitely glad I was not on her for all this ☺. Dylan and I kept her moving whenever she wanted to be distracted by stuff outside the arena, and once she got tired (which, luckily, doesn't take her long), she lowered her head, licked and chewed and was ready to pay attention to me.
Once I got on, I started out walking her around the arena. She was still a bit distracted, and her walk felt tentative (but thankfully, not explosive). Every time she tried to look away at something, I would wiggle the opposite rein and turn her away. Very similar to what I would do with her on the ground to get her to pay more attention to me rather than whatever is going on around her. It took a little bit of time, but eventually she was listening to me better, and her walk became more relaxed, more ground covering and a little bit quicker.
Then we moved on to the trot. She was more willing to keep her trot longer, and I did not have to help her with the distractions as much. Her trot started out a bit lazy, but was more forward, and almost a "normal" trot, by the end. I did ask her to trot again for a pre-determined amount of steps whenever she would quit on her own, but she was trotting for much longer without even thinking about quitting, so I might not have to do much more of that work. However, she has a habit of trying to pull the reins out of my hands, or "rooting" the reins. So, every time she started to do that, I gave her a large kick to help bring her head back up. I often see people try to pull their horse's head back up when they do that, but I always remind them that all the pulling in the world will only get you into a tug of war with your horse, and a horse, especially one Gia's size, will always win a tug of war. The best way to combat a horse who keeps trying to put their head down, is to kick them. Most horses will need many kicks often, but, like anything else, if it's done consistently, it will work. Finally, I also had to use a crop with her today. This was the first time I have had to use a whip with her since I've been riding her. I chose a crop that was pretty mild, just in case she chose to overreact. I also used it very lightly, but she didn't need much of a tap anyway. She did not overreact to it, but she did get the message - when I ask her to go nicely with my leg and voice, if she does not comply, then I will add a tap from the whip.
Once I had worked on the trot three times in each direction, I decided she had done enough for the day. She was definitely more relaxed, she was trotting better - more forward, for a longer time, and with less leg, and she was not trying to pull on the reins as much. When I got off, I noticed that she had developed a little "lipstick" or foam on her mouth. This is a very good sign that things are going as they should. This is typically a sign that the horse is relaxed, especially in the mouth or jaw, and that they are salivating properly, thus lubricating the bit, and staying soft. You might not always see "lipstick" on your horse when you ride, and that doesn't necessarily mean that you were doing anything wrong, but it almost always means things were going right when you do see it ☺.
Once I got on, I started out walking her around the arena. She was still a bit distracted, and her walk felt tentative (but thankfully, not explosive). Every time she tried to look away at something, I would wiggle the opposite rein and turn her away. Very similar to what I would do with her on the ground to get her to pay more attention to me rather than whatever is going on around her. It took a little bit of time, but eventually she was listening to me better, and her walk became more relaxed, more ground covering and a little bit quicker.
Then we moved on to the trot. She was more willing to keep her trot longer, and I did not have to help her with the distractions as much. Her trot started out a bit lazy, but was more forward, and almost a "normal" trot, by the end. I did ask her to trot again for a pre-determined amount of steps whenever she would quit on her own, but she was trotting for much longer without even thinking about quitting, so I might not have to do much more of that work. However, she has a habit of trying to pull the reins out of my hands, or "rooting" the reins. So, every time she started to do that, I gave her a large kick to help bring her head back up. I often see people try to pull their horse's head back up when they do that, but I always remind them that all the pulling in the world will only get you into a tug of war with your horse, and a horse, especially one Gia's size, will always win a tug of war. The best way to combat a horse who keeps trying to put their head down, is to kick them. Most horses will need many kicks often, but, like anything else, if it's done consistently, it will work. Finally, I also had to use a crop with her today. This was the first time I have had to use a whip with her since I've been riding her. I chose a crop that was pretty mild, just in case she chose to overreact. I also used it very lightly, but she didn't need much of a tap anyway. She did not overreact to it, but she did get the message - when I ask her to go nicely with my leg and voice, if she does not comply, then I will add a tap from the whip.
Once I had worked on the trot three times in each direction, I decided she had done enough for the day. She was definitely more relaxed, she was trotting better - more forward, for a longer time, and with less leg, and she was not trying to pull on the reins as much. When I got off, I noticed that she had developed a little "lipstick" or foam on her mouth. This is a very good sign that things are going as they should. This is typically a sign that the horse is relaxed, especially in the mouth or jaw, and that they are salivating properly, thus lubricating the bit, and staying soft. You might not always see "lipstick" on your horse when you ride, and that doesn't necessarily mean that you were doing anything wrong, but it almost always means things were going right when you do see it ☺.
Comments
Post a Comment