Gia - session 60 - Tantrum on the ground, best ride under saddle!
Gia was quite naughty on the ground today. She started out by planting her feet and pulling back against her leadline when Zion was trying to bring her into the barn. I had to come up behind her with a long whip to pop her behind and get her to move forward. Of course, then she acted super offended and anxious, and was all worried about being in the barn. I'm not really sure what started it all, but it is never ok for a horse to plant their feet and not go forward when asked. Especially one as big as Gia. That is one of her "go to" moves when she decides she doesn't want to do things that day, or if she decides she is worried about something (usually something invisible). Once in the barn, she was pretty quiet for Zion to groom and tack. However, when I went to put the bridle on, she was not very cooperative with putting her head down and allowing me to bridle her. I got the job done, but it took a lot more effort than usual.
Once I started lunging her, she became very distracted by something out in the field, so instead of working on her obedience to the cues, I mainly worked on getting her attention anytime she got distracted. I started her out at a walk on a short amount of rope, and when she would look or pull away from me, I would cluck and/or swish the whip to get her attention back on me, and to push her into more work. I didn't mind if she slowed back down as long as she stayed focused on me. I had to do this several times at the walk, but once she was more humble and focused, I pushed her into the trot. She stayed pretty focused at the trot, so then I asked her to canter, more to test how she was going to behave when I asked her to work a little harder (was she going to be grumpy or compliant?). She was pretty compliant, so we went the other direction and did the same thing. It took less effort the other way to get her focused and obedient.
Needless to say, I was not expecting today to be a good ride, much less a great ride. When I got on and started walking, she tried to look at something at the end of the ring, so I wiggled the opposite rein to get her to look away, and used the opposite leg to push her towards it. We did a small circle or two, but she was still trying to look, so did a half circle and went the other way. When we got around to the other side of the ring, she tried to look again, so I repeated the same exercise, and ended up changing direction again. We went back and forth like this for a little while, but each time we were headed towards her distraction, we were able to get a little closer before she tried to look again. As soon as we would change direction, she would stay focused, and I concentrated on being very quiet with my seat, legs and hands so that she knew she was doing the right thing. We were eventually able to make a full circle, but we did stay away from the 1/3 of the ring that she was distracted by. For the most part, her walk was pretty relaxed and ground covering, which is very different from the walk we typically have had - short and tense.
When the walk work was better, I asked for the trot. I got very little, if any, resistance to pick up the trot, and she stayed focused on me, for the most part. If I did lose her attention, I could usually just bend her away from whatever it was, or do a small circle, and then go back to work. We worked on a figure 8, and each time we changed direction, I asked her to bend correctly for the direction we were traveling. She bent very easily to the right, almost too easy, so sometimes I had to ask her to bend a little bit to the left to get her straighter. To the left, she did not bend as easily, but she did give in to me, eventually, each time. She was also changing direction, and changing bend, fairly well. And her trot, like her walk, was much freer and more ground covering, with less tension, than it usually is. I was really surprised by how well our ride went considering how bad she had misbehaved on the ground! Once she had gone a few times in each direction at the trot, I let her end there.
As soon as she was untacked, I had Zion hold her in the grass to eat while I turned on the clippers and walked towards her. She let me get a little closer before she got worried. When she started to back away, I put the twitch on her and started clipping her muzzle and beard area. She relaxed a lot more this time! And as she relaxed, I had Zion loosen up the twitch a little at a time until it was completely off of her. I was still clipping her while the twitch was coming off, and she did not tense up at all! I continued to clip her until she showed more visible signs of relaxation once the twitch was off. Definitely the best she has done so far with clipping!
While Zion got her bathing stuff ready, I pulled more of Gia's mane, as she ate grass. She could have cared less. Then I held her while Zion bathed her. She only moved her feet a couple of times, and then she was still the rest of the time. I draped her rope through the tie ring, but I DID NOT actually tie her. She stayed very still the rest of the time, and did not even move her feet when I sprayed off her face! Not a great start to her day, but the rest of the stuff went the best it has gone so far!
Once I started lunging her, she became very distracted by something out in the field, so instead of working on her obedience to the cues, I mainly worked on getting her attention anytime she got distracted. I started her out at a walk on a short amount of rope, and when she would look or pull away from me, I would cluck and/or swish the whip to get her attention back on me, and to push her into more work. I didn't mind if she slowed back down as long as she stayed focused on me. I had to do this several times at the walk, but once she was more humble and focused, I pushed her into the trot. She stayed pretty focused at the trot, so then I asked her to canter, more to test how she was going to behave when I asked her to work a little harder (was she going to be grumpy or compliant?). She was pretty compliant, so we went the other direction and did the same thing. It took less effort the other way to get her focused and obedient.
Needless to say, I was not expecting today to be a good ride, much less a great ride. When I got on and started walking, she tried to look at something at the end of the ring, so I wiggled the opposite rein to get her to look away, and used the opposite leg to push her towards it. We did a small circle or two, but she was still trying to look, so did a half circle and went the other way. When we got around to the other side of the ring, she tried to look again, so I repeated the same exercise, and ended up changing direction again. We went back and forth like this for a little while, but each time we were headed towards her distraction, we were able to get a little closer before she tried to look again. As soon as we would change direction, she would stay focused, and I concentrated on being very quiet with my seat, legs and hands so that she knew she was doing the right thing. We were eventually able to make a full circle, but we did stay away from the 1/3 of the ring that she was distracted by. For the most part, her walk was pretty relaxed and ground covering, which is very different from the walk we typically have had - short and tense.
When the walk work was better, I asked for the trot. I got very little, if any, resistance to pick up the trot, and she stayed focused on me, for the most part. If I did lose her attention, I could usually just bend her away from whatever it was, or do a small circle, and then go back to work. We worked on a figure 8, and each time we changed direction, I asked her to bend correctly for the direction we were traveling. She bent very easily to the right, almost too easy, so sometimes I had to ask her to bend a little bit to the left to get her straighter. To the left, she did not bend as easily, but she did give in to me, eventually, each time. She was also changing direction, and changing bend, fairly well. And her trot, like her walk, was much freer and more ground covering, with less tension, than it usually is. I was really surprised by how well our ride went considering how bad she had misbehaved on the ground! Once she had gone a few times in each direction at the trot, I let her end there.
As soon as she was untacked, I had Zion hold her in the grass to eat while I turned on the clippers and walked towards her. She let me get a little closer before she got worried. When she started to back away, I put the twitch on her and started clipping her muzzle and beard area. She relaxed a lot more this time! And as she relaxed, I had Zion loosen up the twitch a little at a time until it was completely off of her. I was still clipping her while the twitch was coming off, and she did not tense up at all! I continued to clip her until she showed more visible signs of relaxation once the twitch was off. Definitely the best she has done so far with clipping!
While Zion got her bathing stuff ready, I pulled more of Gia's mane, as she ate grass. She could have cared less. Then I held her while Zion bathed her. She only moved her feet a couple of times, and then she was still the rest of the time. I draped her rope through the tie ring, but I DID NOT actually tie her. She stayed very still the rest of the time, and did not even move her feet when I sprayed off her face! Not a great start to her day, but the rest of the stuff went the best it has gone so far!
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