Gia - session 69 - dressage tests and walk poles and trot poles, oh my!

I worked with Gia yesterday after Zion had gotten her groomed and tacked.  She was very polite and patient with Zion (who is still learning stuff about handling horses).  I started her out on the lunge line to help with energy and distractions.  She was not as distracted as her first day back, and was quite obedient to what I was asking for.  There were a couple of poles in the arena in her way.  They were set at a distance where she could trot one step in between or canter 1/2 a step in between (a bounce).  She was nervous about them at first, but I think she enjoyed the rhythm of them, especially at the trot, because she started to seek them out rather than avoid them. 

Once she was warmed up, I hopped on.  Since she had seemed to enjoy the poles on the lunge line, I decided to keep up the positive vibes and momentum and walk and trot over the poles while riding.  She went over the first pole rather dramatically.  As she approached it, she put her head down to check it out, (which is perfectly acceptable and I allowed it).  She took a bit of a misstep, and rather than stepping over the pole, she stepped on it and kind of rolled it a little.  When the pole moved, Gia moved ... straight up in the air, what felt like 10 feet, and came straight down haphazardly on the pole.  Kind of like a cartoon elephant jumping in the air when it sees a mouse.  I managed to get her completely over that pole, and then proceeded to walk, and eventually trot, over every pole in the arena.  She was high stepping over them at first, but eventually was walking and trotting over them without a disruption in her rhythm.  The good news is that she didn't have a chance to get distracted by anything else outside the arena.  So, I took that positive momentum and ran through Intro dressage Tests A and B with her.  It was a good way for her to put together all the stuff she has worked on thus far, and they weren't too bad either!

I had a really packed day yesterday, so I didn't have time to do any ground work with her with the clippers afterwards, but maybe next time ...

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