Gia - session 62 - more good and bad
Today started off with Gia flipping out because I wanted to brush her face and forelock. She was giving me a hard time about keeping her head down and snorting when I touched her face, so I put a lip chain on her. A lip chain is very similar to a twitch. The chain goes up under the horse's top lip, between their lip and gum, and when it tightens it provides the same sort of effects as a twitch - a bit more control, and a bit of endorphin release. She's had the lip chain on a few times before when she has been tough for the farrier. However, today she acted like it was the first time and like she had no idea what was going on. I think her "normal" reaction to anything is to blow up first and then (maybe) think about it later. She definitely blew up when she felt the chain tighten! She went backwards hard (I had already pulled her off the crossties, expecting some sore of reaction, so she didn't break them). Then she went up and forward and all other directions. At one point, she came down hard on my foot. I'll probably have a blue toenail tomorrow, and for a while. The whole time, I just kept enough pressure on the chain that she couldn't get away from it, but not so much that it kept her from relaxing. Once she did calm down, I brushed her face and forelock. As soon as she realized that I wasn't trying to kill her, just brush her, she relaxed much more. Then I took the chain off and continued to brush her. She was perfectly fine after that.
When I lunged her today, she was much less distracted by the rest of the world, but she was a bit grumpy about the canter. When I asked her to canter, she bucked and cajoled about a few times. Each time, I stopped her and started again. We kept on until she was cantering calmly in each direction.
For the riding today, she was practically perfect! She was quite calm at the walk and trot, and only looked around a little bit. It was easy to get her attention back on me when she did try to look around. Her walk and trot were very relaxed and forward and ground covering. I trotted a few times in each direction on a figure 8, and she was very responsive to moving off my leg. Moving off my left leg was still harder than the right, but easier than the last time. We didn't work on the free walk today because I wanted to save time for something else.
The something else was supposed to be our first canter under saddle. I took her up to the round pen, with Rebecca to help me on the ground. It's been a while since she has been in the round pen, and I wanted to show Rebecca exactly how to help me from the ground, so we started out free lunging at the canter. However, we had a new horse get turned out today in Gia's field. They hadn't met yet, but he was out there already, and they were going to meet once she was done working (and hopefully, a little too tired to fight much). Once she saw him, she got very distracted, and once he saw her, he started running around, and then she put her tail straight up in the air like an Arabian, and galloped around the round pen too. I decided that we wouldn't be cantering under saddle today, and instead chose to work on getting her attention back on me with some natural horsemanship work that she is so familiar with. It did take a bit longer than usual, but by the end, I had her complete attention despite the fact that he was still running around in the field. I decided to hold off and try the canter on Wednesday. I just didn't feel like dying today, and as Rebecca said, "You can always try another day if you aren't dead!" ☺
Once we had Gia untacked, Rebecca held her while I approached with the clippers. She was so edgy today from the lip chain and the romp in the round pen, that she was more nervous about the clippers. So, I put the twitch on and then clipped her. Once she relaxed, we relaxed the twitch. Once she relaxed more, we took the twitch off completely but kept clipping until she relaxed even more. Then I pulled more of her mane while Rebecca got the bathing stuff ready. She was a bit better for bathing today. She only moved her feet a few times, including when I sprayed her face. Finally, we turned her out with her new pasture mate. As is usually the case when two new horses meet, there was a lot of running around and sniffing each other. When I left them, Gia was being very snobby and Joker was just trying to make a new friend. They'll figure it out ...
When I lunged her today, she was much less distracted by the rest of the world, but she was a bit grumpy about the canter. When I asked her to canter, she bucked and cajoled about a few times. Each time, I stopped her and started again. We kept on until she was cantering calmly in each direction.
For the riding today, she was practically perfect! She was quite calm at the walk and trot, and only looked around a little bit. It was easy to get her attention back on me when she did try to look around. Her walk and trot were very relaxed and forward and ground covering. I trotted a few times in each direction on a figure 8, and she was very responsive to moving off my leg. Moving off my left leg was still harder than the right, but easier than the last time. We didn't work on the free walk today because I wanted to save time for something else.
The something else was supposed to be our first canter under saddle. I took her up to the round pen, with Rebecca to help me on the ground. It's been a while since she has been in the round pen, and I wanted to show Rebecca exactly how to help me from the ground, so we started out free lunging at the canter. However, we had a new horse get turned out today in Gia's field. They hadn't met yet, but he was out there already, and they were going to meet once she was done working (and hopefully, a little too tired to fight much). Once she saw him, she got very distracted, and once he saw her, he started running around, and then she put her tail straight up in the air like an Arabian, and galloped around the round pen too. I decided that we wouldn't be cantering under saddle today, and instead chose to work on getting her attention back on me with some natural horsemanship work that she is so familiar with. It did take a bit longer than usual, but by the end, I had her complete attention despite the fact that he was still running around in the field. I decided to hold off and try the canter on Wednesday. I just didn't feel like dying today, and as Rebecca said, "You can always try another day if you aren't dead!" ☺
Once we had Gia untacked, Rebecca held her while I approached with the clippers. She was so edgy today from the lip chain and the romp in the round pen, that she was more nervous about the clippers. So, I put the twitch on and then clipped her. Once she relaxed, we relaxed the twitch. Once she relaxed more, we took the twitch off completely but kept clipping until she relaxed even more. Then I pulled more of her mane while Rebecca got the bathing stuff ready. She was a bit better for bathing today. She only moved her feet a few times, including when I sprayed her face. Finally, we turned her out with her new pasture mate. As is usually the case when two new horses meet, there was a lot of running around and sniffing each other. When I left them, Gia was being very snobby and Joker was just trying to make a new friend. They'll figure it out ...
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