Gia - session 47 - Very spunky today!
My week has been a little crazy, so I did not get a chance to work with Gia earlier this week. So, she had a lot of pent up energy today. She was quite fidgety in the crossties, and almost looking for trouble. Danielle and I free lunged her in the arena, and that was definitely a wise choice. She started off galloping around the arena and bucking - something she has not done previously. It didn't take too long before she was tired and licking and chewing with her head down.
Once I got on her, she was actually quieter than I expected. She was trying to be distracted by the other horses in the fields, but she did not do anything naughty. Her walk was about the same - slow and stiff feeling. I had to do a lot of work wiggling the rein and then turning her away from the various distractions. Once she felt calmer, I urged her into a trot. It did not take much effort at all, and her trot definitely had more energy. Luckily, it wasn't too much energy, but it was definitely a nicer, more forward trot! She was still having a hard time with her distractions, especially at one end of the arena. However, she did not quit the trot nearly as often. I decided to work her on a figure 8 pattern. This is one of my favorite patterns to work a horse on. I use it often with all the horses I ride, and with a lot of the students I teach. On Gia's figure 8 today, I mainly just had her focus on paying attention to me, and keeping the trot as she went around the pattern. The pattern started small because I could tell she would not be able to focus on a larger pattern. As we went around, I allowed the pattern to get bigger, as much as she could tolerate, until we were eventually using the entire arena. I did have to remind her to keep going a few times, but that has definitely improved in that area! She also did not try to pull down on the reins more than a couple of times today. And I think I felt her start to bend as well, even though I wasn't even asking her to. I try to base my riding and training on the dressage training pyramid. If you click on the link, you can see the base of the pyramid is rhythm and relaxation. Until Gia has those two things, I can't really move on and ask her, or expect, her to do much else. So, until she gets into a routine with her work, those things will be the main focus.
Once she had improved on what we were doing, I hopped off, got her untacked, and had Danielle hold her while I tried to clip her face. She has always been very resistant to the clippers near her face, and we haven't ever made any real progress with that, even though she is fine with them around her legs. So, after attempting again today with no luck, I decided to use a twitch. A twitch is often regarded as inhumane by non-horse people, however, it's not much different than a whip or spurs or a bit - if used properly, it is just a tool that we sometimes use to help a horse do what we want. Also, when a twitch is applied to a horse's nose properly, it actually releases endorphins that help a horse to relax somewhat. There are a few different kinds of twitches out there, but it basically applies a lot of pressure to a horse's nose, and the result of using a twitch is that the horse stands still for whatever is being done to it. A lot of times, a veterinarian will need to use a twitch to inject a horse or to administer meds or treatment. Today, I decided to use a twitch to help Gia start to get over her fear of the clippers near her face. Once I had put the twitch on, Danielle held the leadline and the twitch, while I started clipping her face. She was quite tense at first, but once she realized that the clippers weren't going to hurt her, she started to relax. As soon as we felt her relax, I turned off the clippers and Danielle removed the twitch and let her have grass. Using the twitch, I am able to use the clippers on Gia, and she is able to see that they aren't really going to hurt her. By removing everything as soon as she relaxes, she will start to connect the dots (eventually), and I will gradually be able to wean her off the twitch. It will probably still take a while, but I do believe we will start to make progress this way.
After we were done with that, I held Gia while Danielle gave her a nice bath. She is still a bit squirmy at the wash area, and not ready to be tied in place, but she is starting to realize that a bath is a good thing too. Gia is just one of those horses that needs time to adjust to all the things that we have to do to her. With patience and time, she will get there!
Once I got on her, she was actually quieter than I expected. She was trying to be distracted by the other horses in the fields, but she did not do anything naughty. Her walk was about the same - slow and stiff feeling. I had to do a lot of work wiggling the rein and then turning her away from the various distractions. Once she felt calmer, I urged her into a trot. It did not take much effort at all, and her trot definitely had more energy. Luckily, it wasn't too much energy, but it was definitely a nicer, more forward trot! She was still having a hard time with her distractions, especially at one end of the arena. However, she did not quit the trot nearly as often. I decided to work her on a figure 8 pattern. This is one of my favorite patterns to work a horse on. I use it often with all the horses I ride, and with a lot of the students I teach. On Gia's figure 8 today, I mainly just had her focus on paying attention to me, and keeping the trot as she went around the pattern. The pattern started small because I could tell she would not be able to focus on a larger pattern. As we went around, I allowed the pattern to get bigger, as much as she could tolerate, until we were eventually using the entire arena. I did have to remind her to keep going a few times, but that has definitely improved in that area! She also did not try to pull down on the reins more than a couple of times today. And I think I felt her start to bend as well, even though I wasn't even asking her to. I try to base my riding and training on the dressage training pyramid. If you click on the link, you can see the base of the pyramid is rhythm and relaxation. Until Gia has those two things, I can't really move on and ask her, or expect, her to do much else. So, until she gets into a routine with her work, those things will be the main focus.
Once she had improved on what we were doing, I hopped off, got her untacked, and had Danielle hold her while I tried to clip her face. She has always been very resistant to the clippers near her face, and we haven't ever made any real progress with that, even though she is fine with them around her legs. So, after attempting again today with no luck, I decided to use a twitch. A twitch is often regarded as inhumane by non-horse people, however, it's not much different than a whip or spurs or a bit - if used properly, it is just a tool that we sometimes use to help a horse do what we want. Also, when a twitch is applied to a horse's nose properly, it actually releases endorphins that help a horse to relax somewhat. There are a few different kinds of twitches out there, but it basically applies a lot of pressure to a horse's nose, and the result of using a twitch is that the horse stands still for whatever is being done to it. A lot of times, a veterinarian will need to use a twitch to inject a horse or to administer meds or treatment. Today, I decided to use a twitch to help Gia start to get over her fear of the clippers near her face. Once I had put the twitch on, Danielle held the leadline and the twitch, while I started clipping her face. She was quite tense at first, but once she realized that the clippers weren't going to hurt her, she started to relax. As soon as we felt her relax, I turned off the clippers and Danielle removed the twitch and let her have grass. Using the twitch, I am able to use the clippers on Gia, and she is able to see that they aren't really going to hurt her. By removing everything as soon as she relaxes, she will start to connect the dots (eventually), and I will gradually be able to wean her off the twitch. It will probably still take a while, but I do believe we will start to make progress this way.
After we were done with that, I held Gia while Danielle gave her a nice bath. She is still a bit squirmy at the wash area, and not ready to be tied in place, but she is starting to realize that a bath is a good thing too. Gia is just one of those horses that needs time to adjust to all the things that we have to do to her. With patience and time, she will get there!
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