Gia - session 63 - Canter! (and some bucking!)
I started today by brushing Gia's face and forelock. She thought about being a little scared, but changed her mind when I fussed at her. For lunging today, she was quite good. She was barely distracted and fairly obedient. I just ran her through the walk, trot and canter in each direction once. Under saddle, she was also quite good. It was a little breezy, and she thought about being a little distracted by the trees and some of the horses in the field. It was very easy to get her attention back though, with very little wiggling of the appropriate rein. Today, she kept "falling out" through her right shoulder rather than her left, probably because she wanted to go to the right to visit the other horses. "Falling out" means that her shoulder drifts in one direction or another, in this case to the right, and no amount of pulling on the rein will stop it from happening. Pulling on the rein will actually make it worse. The proper correction is to use your leg to push the horse's shoulder back in line with its body. This is something that Gia is still learning, but picking up very quickly. She was fairly responsive whenever I asked her to straighten up today. Once she had walked and trotted a bit, I hopped off and took her up to the round pen.
On the ground in the round pen, I refreshed Gia's memory of the canter cue, and I made sure that Dylan knew what to do as well to help cue for the canter. He was to be my ground person for Gia's first canter under saddle. She was much more relaxed today than Monday! So, Dylan gave me a leg up (which went remarkably well considering how tall she is!), and I started by asking her to trot. She was a bit sticky in the up transition, so we came back to a walk and repeated it a few times until she was moving into the trot without resistance. If she is resistant when I ask for the trot, then she will definitely be resistant when I ask for the canter. Once I was ready, I asked her to canter with voice cues only - "canter" followed by a kissing sound. She knew what she was supposed to do, but she couldn't figure out how to get her body to do it with my body on top of her. This is pretty typical of most young horses. So, I had Dylan help out from the ground with his voice cues and the whip. I took a video, but it's too big to attach to the blog, so I will add it in the comments when I post it online. You can see the whole process there. Finally, after several cues, she went into a half canter, half buck. I stopped her and fussed at her and we tried again. The next time was a bit more successful, with a bit more canter and only a hint of a buck. Each time she thought about bucking, I fussed at her, stopped the buck and then pushed her to go again. I allowed her to end when she could go into the canter without any bucking at all. I think she made it about 3/4 of the way around the round pen. For her first time, that was pretty good! Then we turned around and did the same thing the other direction. She only had to canter once in that direction because she did it the first time without bucking!
After that, I untacked her and Zion held her while I approached her with the clippers. She backed away a little, so I put the twitch on her and then started clipping her. She relaxed fairly quickly, and we loosened the twitch as she did. Once the twitch was off, I continued clipping her until she relaxed even further. She was licking and chewing by the end.
Finally, I pulled some of her mane, while the girls brushed her down. No bath today because it was a bit chillier, and she wasn't sweaty. I also measured her for a blanket, which, surprisingly, she stood perfectly still for and didn't bat an eye about. When you measure for a blanket, you use a long tape measure and start at the front of the chest and go around the body lengthwise to the tail. Most horses freak out a little when we touch them with the tape measure, but Gia could have cared less. Now, if I had to measure her face, it would be a completely different story ...
On the ground in the round pen, I refreshed Gia's memory of the canter cue, and I made sure that Dylan knew what to do as well to help cue for the canter. He was to be my ground person for Gia's first canter under saddle. She was much more relaxed today than Monday! So, Dylan gave me a leg up (which went remarkably well considering how tall she is!), and I started by asking her to trot. She was a bit sticky in the up transition, so we came back to a walk and repeated it a few times until she was moving into the trot without resistance. If she is resistant when I ask for the trot, then she will definitely be resistant when I ask for the canter. Once I was ready, I asked her to canter with voice cues only - "canter" followed by a kissing sound. She knew what she was supposed to do, but she couldn't figure out how to get her body to do it with my body on top of her. This is pretty typical of most young horses. So, I had Dylan help out from the ground with his voice cues and the whip. I took a video, but it's too big to attach to the blog, so I will add it in the comments when I post it online. You can see the whole process there. Finally, after several cues, she went into a half canter, half buck. I stopped her and fussed at her and we tried again. The next time was a bit more successful, with a bit more canter and only a hint of a buck. Each time she thought about bucking, I fussed at her, stopped the buck and then pushed her to go again. I allowed her to end when she could go into the canter without any bucking at all. I think she made it about 3/4 of the way around the round pen. For her first time, that was pretty good! Then we turned around and did the same thing the other direction. She only had to canter once in that direction because she did it the first time without bucking!
After that, I untacked her and Zion held her while I approached her with the clippers. She backed away a little, so I put the twitch on her and then started clipping her. She relaxed fairly quickly, and we loosened the twitch as she did. Once the twitch was off, I continued clipping her until she relaxed even further. She was licking and chewing by the end.
Finally, I pulled some of her mane, while the girls brushed her down. No bath today because it was a bit chillier, and she wasn't sweaty. I also measured her for a blanket, which, surprisingly, she stood perfectly still for and didn't bat an eye about. When you measure for a blanket, you use a long tape measure and start at the front of the chest and go around the body lengthwise to the tail. Most horses freak out a little when we touch them with the tape measure, but Gia could have cared less. Now, if I had to measure her face, it would be a completely different story ...
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