All The Kings' Horses

Gia was a bit naughty to begin with today.  I didn't see how things started out, when Katie went to get her, but when I did catch a glimpse of them, Gia was trying to eat hay from the hay hut, and pinning her ears each time Katie approached her to put the halter on.  I had to coach Katie through the best way to handle this situation.  Gia is very large, so she can be quite intimidating when she decides to misbehave.  However, knowing Gia the way I do, she is VERY easily humbled, but you do have to get after her harshly, and most importantly, IMMEDIATELY!  I instructed Katie to put Gia to work immediately by using the leadline to drive her away and into a trot.  As soon as Katie made Gia work, she started to realize the error of her ways, and started lowering her head in apology.  I had Katie work her for about 5 minutes, until Gia was solidly sorry - lowering her head, and licking and chewing - before Katie relaxed and allowed Gia to come up to her, now much more humble.  Gia learn

I finally remembered to start out by lunging Gia to the right today.  Not sure if that was the big difference, or if she's just had enough repetition, or a little of both.  But, her stretching on the lunge line was AMAZING today!!  She got up to 12 consecutive steps to the right, and then I lost count of how many consecutive steps she got to the left!  She did seem to completely understand what I was asking of her today, and was so willing to give it!  She was also much less grouchy than she has been when I ask her to go forward on the line. Under saddle, she stood almost perfectly still, on a loose rein, while I got on today.  We worked on all the same things, to begin with.  She did super with everything, especially considering the extra distractions today.  Some of the kids were hanging up blankets on the barn, and they looked a little scary as they lifted the blankets up high overhead.  She was worried, and tried to look, but I was able to get her attention back on me, and sh

I worked with Gia again today on the same things she has been doing on the lunge line and under saddle.  She was still quite stiff to the left the first time, but super stretchy to the right, and then much better at stretching to the left the second time.  I keep forgetting that I want to try stretching her to the right first and see if that makes a difference.  Hopefully, I'll remember the next time! Under saddle, we worked on the same things - stretching, straightness, bending, counterbending, all on circles, figure 8's and serpentines.  Gia was super today with everything, and felt the best she has felt so far!  She was really stretching and doing well with bending and counterbending too! Gia also had a bonus ride on Saturday.  One of my students has been horse searching, and had asked me questions about the differences between an "uphill" horse and a "downhill" horse.  Uphill horses are built higher up front, in the withers, and lower towards the bac

Friday's session went very much like the last few.  When I started this blog, my biggest intention was to show folks exactly what goes into training a horse from the ground up.  Mostly, the day to day, same thing over and over, repetition repetition, until you are ready to move on.  I am definitely in one of those phases with Gia at the moment. One thing I did slightly different this time was to change how I attached the lunge line.  I've been attaching it through the bit on the near side, over the poll and snapped on the bit on the far side.  However, I really want her to get more stretch, so this time, I ran it through the bit on the near side and attached it to the girth.  This gives me a bit more leverage to help encourage her to reach down more.  It definitely helped!  We were able to get up to 7 consecutive stretching steps in each direction (I did have to go to the left twice, but I also changed the way I attached the lunge line until after I had gone to the left the f

I started Gia on the lunge line in the arena with the neckstretcher to the left first.  She seemed very stiff and quite grumpy in the beginning.  I fussed at her and pushed her more forward every time she pinned her ears, but it wasn't as effective on the line as it is in the round pen.  So, I switched tactics and instead gave a quick but sharp yank on the line each time.  That seemed to deter her, and she eventually gave it up altogether.  When she went to the right, she seemed more willing to stretch, and I was able to get up to 7 consecutive steps of stretching in that direction.  I sent her back to the left one more time, and she had loosened up a bit, and relaxed her attitude a bit, but I was still only able to get 5 consecutive steps of stretching at the trot. Once again, she stood almost perfectly still for mounting.  I had to remind her twice not to go until I gave her permission, but she was willing to stand long enough for me to scratch her and then give her the ok.  We

On Monday I started out by lunging Gia on a line, with the neck stretcher, in the arena.  It was quite cold (still is), and the round pen is a bit shadier than the arena, so it hadn't thawed out just yet.  Gia was fairly well behaved on the line.  I don't think she really pinned her ears at all.  I only lunged her for a couple of minutes at the walk, and then for 5 minutes at the trot in each direction.  I was able to get about 6 consecutive steps of stretch at the trot in each direction.  I did allow her to do more trot-to-walk-to-trot transitions, which definitely helped her to relax, leading to a bit more stretch. Finally, I was ready to hop on again, and see how all the lunging would pay off.  She was almost perfectly still at the mounting block!  I think she only moved once, and it was more about shifting her weight rather than being impatient to go.  The entire ride was so much more relaxed!  Thank you Suzin!  We were able to get right down to work, rather than spending

Today was more lunging for Gia.  The set up was the same, and the procedure was the same.  It was still a little harder for her to stretch down to the left, so we spent more time trying to get the stretches in that direction.  I was able to get 11 consecutive steps to the right, but only 10 to the left.  So close!  She was less grumpy when I asked her to move forward, and pinned her ears less.  She did still do it a few times, but definitely not as often, so the reprimands are definitely working!  I did try adding in some transitions from trot to canter today, when she was resisting the stretch and against the neck stretcher.  I would ask her to canter, and then as soon as she softened, I would ask her to trot again.  She was starting to give me more moments of stretching more often after those transitions.  It's definitely still a work in progress though!

I worked with Gia again in the round pen on her lunging today.  She was quicker to reach down and stretch today, and her stretch at the walk was much more consistent.  Her stretch at the trot was less consistent, but she was getting it more often.  She did get up to 11 steps of consecutive stretch at the trot again.  Stretching was much harder for her to the left than it was to the right.  Typically, you want to spend about the same amount of time in each direction.  However, I wanted to get an equal number of consecutive stretch steps in each direction, so we ended up spending about double the amount of time to the left.  The ultimate goal is to have your horse going equally well in each direction, so you often have to work the harder side a bit more.  She was a bit grumpy a few times, pinning her ears back when I asked to go forward.  Each time, I corrected her by pushing her to do more work.  Her attitude was slightly better overall today though. I took a couple of pictures today

So, as Heather mentioned in a post last week, Gia got the chance to go on an adventure this week: to a horse show! At this point for Gia , shows are not for competing, but for experience and acclimation. There will hopefully come a time where horse shows become second nature for Gia, but for now they are new and scary. For me ( Danielle), it’s been 16 years since I’ve been to a show so it was a bit of adventure for us both! When I found out Heather was planning on taking Gia, I offered to come along to help with the big girl. Heather wasn’t showing in this show but she had multiple students in the show and had to do her job first and foremost! I had the opportunity to devote my full attention to Gia so I was a good second choice! When I was almost at the show, I received a text from Heather to not even say hi to Gia when I arrived. Well, I know Heather well enough to know this means someone wasn’t being very ladylike in the trailer! Gia was doing quite the “dancing” in the traile

I took Suzin's advice very seriously today.  I started out lunging Gia in the round pen with a neck stretcher attached to her bridle and saddle.  A neck stretcher is a long, elastic cord that goes over the horse's poll , down through the bit on either side, and attaches to the girth of the saddle.  It's purpose is to help the horse learn to soften and stretch their neck, and to loosen up and relax.  It is adjustable, but I kept it as long as possible for Gia today.  Gia really struggled with letting go and softening today.  I started out verbally praising her whenever she got it right, but she kept taking that to mean that she should quit, so I eventually stopped praising her and just relaxed my cues when she got it right.  She was very tight for a while, and although she did release some, it didn't last for more than a step or two at first.  By the end, she was able to keep the stretch for up to 11 steps in each direction.  Which, by the way, whenever I see that some

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, it is extremely important for a rider to have someone helping them out with "eyes on the ground", to help a rider "see" what they are feeling.  Since I'm not quite ready to ride Gia off the property, but I still want to have someone coaching us through things, I asked my former dressage instructor, Suzin Daly, if she would be willing to come over and help us out.  Suzin was my first dressage instructor, MANY years ago, and also introduced me to eventing, and gave me my first few eventing lessons too!  I have a HUGE respect for Suzin, and all she has taught me, but it's been a while since we have worked together, so when she said she would definitely come out to help me, I was ecstatic!  Gia was a bit tense in the beginning, and the first thing Suzin said is that she recommends lunging Gia before every single ride for quite a while, probably several months.  She wants Gia to be completely relaxed the moment I get

Gia was a bit anxious in the crossties yesterday, so I was expecting her to be a bit tense, but I decided to go without lunging anyway.  She was a little fidgety at the mounting block when I brought her up to it, so I repeatedly asked her to stand still.  Once she did, I hopped on, and she was a statue until I told her she could walk on!  She felt a bit tight and tense at the walk, but after a few minutes she was starting to loosen up.  We worked on the figure 8 between the poles, and her walk work was the straightest it has ever been!  I had to make minor corrections, but she was very responsive and stayed more consistent.  By the end of our walk warm up, she was moving forward more fluidly, and covering more ground with a bigger, swingier step. She moved into the trot very promptly on the first cue, not sluggish at all, but also not tense!  We worked on the same figure 8 pattern.  She started out fairly straight at first, but after a little while, it was getting harder for her to m

Gia seemed very relaxed today, so I did not start out with lunging.  She was almost perfect at the mounting block!  She moved a few steps as I was getting on, but then stood very still until I told her to go.  Her walk was a bit sluggish at first, so as I asked her to work on shoulder-in at the walk on the figure 8, I also asked her to move a bit more forward.  She really responded well to everything, and it wasn't long before she was stretching down pretty far!  When we picked up the trot, I continued working on shoulder-in on the figure 8.  She started out needing more shoulder-right, as usual, but towards the end she actually needed to work a little on the shoulder-left.  By using both movements, I was able to get Gia straighter than she has been thus far! After a brief break, I put her back into a little shoulder-right at the trot tracking left.  As soon as she felt correct, I asked for the canter.  I was prepared for her canter to be a bit explosive, and as soon as I felt he

I started out today's session with a bit of lunging.  Partly since it has been a few days, and partly since cantering has not gone very well the last few times.  I wanted to see if I noticed anything odd or off about her canter from the ground.  She was quite ready to go, and moved off very quickly as soon as I turned her loose on the lunge line.  After a few minutes of trot warm up, where I encouraged her to relax and stretch, I asked her for canter.  The transition was a bit abrupt and had some slight ear pinning, but she's always done that, even back when I was first teaching her how to canter while free lunging in the round pen.  I let her burn off a little steam, and asked for several canter transitions until I got one in each direction that was more polite. Gia stood much quieter at the mounting block today.  I don't think she moved her feet at all until I was in the saddle, and then it only took a couple of smaller reminders before she stood and waited for the cue