Gia - session 51 - a little attitude, a little submission
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 her feet if she wouldn't go forward. Using this method, Gia and I wouldn't get as stuck as we did the other day and things wouldn't escalate. It's been a while since I've worked with a horse that didn't want to go forward like this. It's one of those tools that I knew about, but I had forgotten since it has been a while since I've needed to use it. It worked like a charm! Anytime I asked her to go forward in the usual way and she resisted, I would turn her head one way or the other, while continuing to ask her to go forward, until she finally moved her feet. Turning her forces her to move her feet, and it also defuses any thoughts she has of bucking or rearing. As soon as she would move her feet, then I would relax my cues for a second to let her know she did the right thing. The next time I asked her to go forward, I would go back and cue her the traditional way, but ready to use my "tool" if she resisted again. By the end, she was moving forward much more willingly and obediently.
A lot of times horses will come up with these little "stunts" to try to get out of work (remember my analogy from my last blog to a teenager trying to get out of work). They are typically not dangerous moves at first, but if a horse is allowed to get away with these moves time after time, then they can become quite dangerous. You can usually find a way to defuse the situation without fireworks, and then the horse will often decide it's not worth the effort to keep putting up the fight, and it's just easier to do what the rider wants. I always try to make the right thing easy for the horse, and the wrong thing hard or uncomfortable for the horse. Horses really do want to do the right and easy thing, they just sometimes have to be shown the way. And, as professionals, we often need to put our heads together, or ask other professionals, to get through an issue, as I did today with my farrier.
Once I was happy with where I was with Gia, I offered the reins to Rusty, and he gladly hopped on (after we dropped the stirrups down quite a bit ☺). He worked with Gia on giving to the bit to get her more flexible and enable her to move forward more easily. I haven't asked that much of her yet, but she had a lot of nice moments with Rusty and really looked like she was trying to understand what he was asking! She was pretty tired by the end, but she's had pretty easy workouts so far, and a tough one like this every once in a while certainly won't hurt her. I can't wait to see what she remembers when I ride her again on Friday!
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 her feet if she wouldn't go forward. Using this method, Gia and I wouldn't get as stuck as we did the other day and things wouldn't escalate. It's been a while since I've worked with a horse that didn't want to go forward like this. It's one of those tools that I knew about, but I had forgotten since it has been a while since I've needed to use it. It worked like a charm! Anytime I asked her to go forward in the usual way and she resisted, I would turn her head one way or the other, while continuing to ask her to go forward, until she finally moved her feet. Turning her forces her to move her feet, and it also defuses any thoughts she has of bucking or rearing. As soon as she would move her feet, then I would relax my cues for a second to let her know she did the right thing. The next time I asked her to go forward, I would go back and cue her the traditional way, but ready to use my "tool" if she resisted again. By the end, she was moving forward much more willingly and obediently.
A lot of times horses will come up with these little "stunts" to try to get out of work (remember my analogy from my last blog to a teenager trying to get out of work). They are typically not dangerous moves at first, but if a horse is allowed to get away with these moves time after time, then they can become quite dangerous. You can usually find a way to defuse the situation without fireworks, and then the horse will often decide it's not worth the effort to keep putting up the fight, and it's just easier to do what the rider wants. I always try to make the right thing easy for the horse, and the wrong thing hard or uncomfortable for the horse. Horses really do want to do the right and easy thing, they just sometimes have to be shown the way. And, as professionals, we often need to put our heads together, or ask other professionals, to get through an issue, as I did today with my farrier.
Once I was happy with where I was with Gia, I offered the reins to Rusty, and he gladly hopped on (after we dropped the stirrups down quite a bit ☺). He worked with Gia on giving to the bit to get her more flexible and enable her to move forward more easily. I haven't asked that much of her yet, but she had a lot of nice moments with Rusty and really looked like she was trying to understand what he was asking! She was pretty tired by the end, but she's had pretty easy workouts so far, and a tough one like this every once in a while certainly won't hurt her. I can't wait to see what she remembers when I ride her again on Friday!
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