All The Kings' Horses

I have had a super busy weekend, so no time to write about Gia's adventures on Friday.  So, I'm combining her last two session in one post.  On Friday, things went pretty much the same as they did on Wednesday.  I lunged her until she was obedient to the cues and not freaking out about anything.  She stayed pretty calm for that.  Under saddle, we did much the same stuff that we had been doing.  I don't remember anything glaringly good or bad, so just an average ride.  Afterwards, Danielle and I worked together on the clipping, mane pulling and bathing.  She behaved roughly the same, perhaps a tad better, for all three. For today's session, I also started out lunging.  She was much more obedient to the down transitions right away.  Tracking right, she was practically perfect in everything I asked her to do.  Tracking left, she was a little less obedient to the down transition (more distracted by something else), and a little grumpy when I got after her for not respon

Today's session went pretty much the same as Monday's.  I started out lunging Gia near the ground poles.  She wasn't afraid of them at all today.  She was a bit distracted by outside things, and it took her a little while to respond promptly to the "walk" transition, but otherwise, she did pretty good.  Under saddle, she was still distracted, and felt like she wanted to explode a little at times.  I worked to keep her attention by asking her with the opposite rein each time, and staying on smallish circles.  She never felt very forward (which can sometimes be worse than too forward).  As soon as I got her to the point where she wasn't tense and distracted, I ended the ride there.  Once all her tack was off, my newer helper, Zion, held her while I turned on the clippers and walked towards her.  She did not back up or tense up right away.  It wasn't until I was pretty close to her face with them that she started to back up.  So, while Zion held the clipper

I started Gia out on the lunge line yesterday.  She has been spooking at the poles on the ground when we've been in the arena (not a good sign for a future event horse ☺), so I decided to lunge her right over/near the poles.  She definitely thought they were going to get her!  Anytime she was near the poles, she tried to buck.  I would fuss at her and stop her, and then ask her to go again.  Pretty soon, it got a little comical - she would get near the poles, buck and then look at me.  I'm not sure if she was looking to me for reassurance that the poles wouldn't get her, or looking sheepish because she got in trouble again for bucking, or looking at me with a glint in her eye as if to say that she was being naughty and knew it.  Either way, it took quite a few transitions between all gaits before she could go through, or over, or past the poles without a reaction.  Once she was good in both directions, I hopped on. For now, under saddle, I will avoid the poles.  I'm n

I started Gia out on the lunge line, partly to desensitize her to the clanging metal stirrups, and partly to make sure she would be obedient to the aids before I got on her.  She was MUCH better than Wednesday!  She only startled about the stirrups a few times at the very beginning, and then she ignored them the rest of the time.  She was very obedient and prompt to the up transitions, and wasn't grumpy at all.  She was a little distracted, so not as obedient to the "walk" transitions.  Once she gave me 3 good walk transitions in each direction, I decided to hop on. She started the under saddle work much less fussy and much more willing to do what I asked.  She was a little distracted, but not too bad.  I asked her to soften to my leg and rein on each side, and within minutes, she was obediently bending to the right and left.  The right was stiffer again, but she was much more willing.  Once I had gotten three good flexions in each direction at the walk, I asked her to

Since Gia has been doing so well, I decided it was time to switch her out of the western saddle and into a dressage saddle.  I do not jump my horses until they are at least 4, so she'll live in this saddle for a while.  I started out lunging her, mainly to check her obedience to the aids and make sure she was good to go before I got on.  However, I had to spend a bit more time lunging than I did the last few sessions.  I had left my stirrups down, which is typically not recommended, but when I'm working with a young horse, I want them to experience all things possible on the lunge line, so that I don't have to go through it with them while I'm in the saddle.  After just a few steps in to the trot, Gia started bucking.  My dressage stirrups are metal, with metal inserts, hitting the metal on the buckle to the girth, and all that clanging around made her hit the roof.  I did A LOT of transitions between all gaits until she could do them calmly, without any drama.  It t

Today's session with Gia was a little brief because I worked with her while we were waiting for the vet to show up for fall routine stuff.  I thought I would have more time than I did, but I still had a productive session with her.  I started out with lunging on the line.  She was super responsive to all the cues, and only got grumpy about being asked to go forward a couple of times when I asked her to canter.  As soon as I fussed at her for the attitude, she straightened up. Under saddle, I started asking her to soften on each side right away at the walk.  She is stiffer to the right, and probably always will be, so I worked with her a little more on that side each time.  After several good releases in each direction, I urged her into the trot.  She was a bit resistant to pick the trot up at first, but once she did, it was nicely forward!  Then I asked her to soften a bit in each direction on circles at the trot.  There was a little more to be distracted about since we had some

I started Gia out with a little bit of lunging on the line in the arena on Friday.  After Rusty's ride on her on Wednesday, he recommended not lunging her anymore so that she would have more energy to work with.  I'm not sure I'm quite ready for my almost 17 hand 3 year old who's only been under saddle for 18 days to have more energy when I ride her ☺.  So, I compromised and only lunged her a little in each direction, making sure she was obedient to the cues (not pinning her ears when I asked her to go forward), and not in the mood to buck.  She actually did very well on the line - no bucking and no ear pinning, so I went ahead and got on her.  She did have more energy, but she wasn't naughty ... this time ... Right away I started asking her to give a little on each side of her body.  I kept all the cues very soft, but persistent until I got a little bit of give on one side, then I would switch and ask her to give on the other side.  I always asked her to give in

I started Gia out on the lunge line today.  I expected to have to work with her on moving forward today, and working on her attitude towards moving forward and doing work.  However, she was quite ready to go and full of herself today, so we worked on obedience to the cues - "walk", "trot", "canter", "whoa".  Once I noticed that she was quicker, I changed my intentions, and instead worked on getting her a little tired.  So, we did a lot of trot/canter transitions until she was more obedient and quieter. Once I was on her, she felt really good at the walk - relaxed but forward.  She was a little looky at a few things that were new in the arena, but nothing that was too bad.  When I asked for the trot, she was also more obedient to that at first.  She did try to stop and stall out on me a few times.  My farrier, and mentor, Rusty, and his partner Kathy, were out at the barn today, and they reminded me that I could turn her head to get her to move

I started Gia out today with a bit of free lunging in the arena.  I wasn't expecting much drama because it is soooo hot and humid today.  As I expected, she trotted around the arena, interested in a few things, trying to eat grass, but eventually, in about the same amount of time as usual, decided that she was ready to get to work and focus on me.  Once I had her complete attention, I exchanged her halter for a bridle and hopped on.  She started out very slow at the walk.  It's still hard to tell if she is tense or just lazy, but I did not get the feeling today that her walk was as tense as usual.  She was more focused on me and less focused on things outside the arena as well.  She was even starting to offer a little bit of bending right away, although she did start pulling down on the reins as well.  I was able to ask her for the trot sooner than usual.  She did fine for about 2 laps, and then she started to stall out on me.  At first, I thought she was just being lazy.  I ha

So, for those of you that aren't from around here, we had a hurricane pass through yesterday and last night and it was still a bit windy this morning.  Needless to say, all the horses were a bit hyped up today, and I was definitely not up for riding Gia.  I did work with her however, we just did some lunging in the round pen.  I had her work on being more response to the voice cues of "walk", "trot" and "canter".  She was a bit stubborn in the beginning.  The round pen has quite a bit of grass growing in it, and she really wanted to stop for a snack.  She got a bit pissy at first when I asked her to trot, so I had to fuss at her and make her work a little harder.  She figured out pretty quickly that she needed to have a better attitude.  Once we got that straightened out, she was very good at picking up the trot on command.  It took a few tries for her to come back to the walk on command, but she was doing that eagerly by the end.  It also took a few t

Gia was already pretty hot and sweaty today, but I still had her start out with some free lunging around the arena.  She wasn't too excited, but was a little distracted and did buck a few times.  Once I got on her, she seemed pretty good, in general.  Her walk was not as hesitant, and had more march today.  She was still distracted, but not as tentative about it.  I used a wiggling rein, and started to add a bit of pushing leg in the opposite direction of whatever was distracting her, to get her attention back on me.  This will also help to introduce bending to her, even if it's not much at this time.  Once she was relaxed enough, I moved on to the trot.  Her trot also had more energy and less tension today.  I also used the rein and leg aids to help with the distractions and to add some flexion and bending.  She responded really well to it, and by the end, really seemed to understand what I was asking of her.  Incidentally, she did not pull down on the reins at all today!  I e