Gia - session 86 - Gia starts learning shoulder-in!
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 to walk on. She was a little tight at the walk at first, but that went away quickly as I asked her to pay attention to me and we focus on going straighter. I had Danielle watch us today to help be my "eyes on the ground", so that I could be sure about what I was feeling in the saddle. There is often a big disconnect between what a rider feels in the saddle and what is actually happening as viewed by someone from the ground. People are often surprised that I have an instructor and still take riding lessons. I am a good rider, but certainly don't know everything there is to know about riding or horses (I would be bored if I did, anyway ☺). And even if I did know everything, I would still need someone on the ground confirming what I am feeling in the saddle. People are often surprised to hear that even the best riders, the ones going to the Olympics, have coaches as well! So, Danielle watched as Gia and I worked through the figure 8 and between the poles. For the most part, I could tell when her haunches were too far in either direction, but I have a bad habit of over correcting my horses and doing too much (just ask my coach Charlie, who is always telling me not to do too much and to just "think it" or "just sit there and be still"!). Danielle was able to help catch me when I had asked Gia for just enough, before I pushed her too far in the other direction.
By having Danielle's eyes on the ground, I was finding that Gia was actually starting to respond to the tiniest cues for shoulder-in. I had thought that would be too much of a challenge for her in the beginning, but she was actually understanding that cue pretty well, and relaxing more because of it. Because Gia tends to hold her haunches to the right too much, I pretty much stuck with asking her to position her shoulders to the right, which allowed her haunches to trail to the left, which actually ended up with her haunches being directly behind her front end (when Danielle helped catch me from pushing her too far). The movement actually started out with a little bit of a leg yield to the right, but Gia caught on to that quickly, so I was able to subtly change that into a shoulder-in right. In the moments where Gia would "get it", she would really relax her whole body and stretch into my hands quite nicely. They were small moments, but it was a nice start!
Once I had gotten three good passes in each direction, I gave her a little break. When I started her back up again, I aimed for one good pass before asking for the canter. I started out with her tracking left, since that is usually her easier direction. She had a nice trot to canter transition, but after a few steps started hinting at bucking. I picked her head up and added leg and fussed at her. This would happen every few steps for several tries until she finally "got over it" and cantered on quietly for about a lap. I gave her another break before cantering to the right. That direction was much better, with no hints of bucking, although she only made it about 1/2 a lap. I decided not to push for more since it was a more obedient canter, and we finished up with a few down transitions. The trot to walk transitions were very good, and it only took a few walk to halt transitions before she gave me one that was obedient without pulling down.
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 to walk on. She was a little tight at the walk at first, but that went away quickly as I asked her to pay attention to me and we focus on going straighter. I had Danielle watch us today to help be my "eyes on the ground", so that I could be sure about what I was feeling in the saddle. There is often a big disconnect between what a rider feels in the saddle and what is actually happening as viewed by someone from the ground. People are often surprised that I have an instructor and still take riding lessons. I am a good rider, but certainly don't know everything there is to know about riding or horses (I would be bored if I did, anyway ☺). And even if I did know everything, I would still need someone on the ground confirming what I am feeling in the saddle. People are often surprised to hear that even the best riders, the ones going to the Olympics, have coaches as well! So, Danielle watched as Gia and I worked through the figure 8 and between the poles. For the most part, I could tell when her haunches were too far in either direction, but I have a bad habit of over correcting my horses and doing too much (just ask my coach Charlie, who is always telling me not to do too much and to just "think it" or "just sit there and be still"!). Danielle was able to help catch me when I had asked Gia for just enough, before I pushed her too far in the other direction.
By having Danielle's eyes on the ground, I was finding that Gia was actually starting to respond to the tiniest cues for shoulder-in. I had thought that would be too much of a challenge for her in the beginning, but she was actually understanding that cue pretty well, and relaxing more because of it. Because Gia tends to hold her haunches to the right too much, I pretty much stuck with asking her to position her shoulders to the right, which allowed her haunches to trail to the left, which actually ended up with her haunches being directly behind her front end (when Danielle helped catch me from pushing her too far). The movement actually started out with a little bit of a leg yield to the right, but Gia caught on to that quickly, so I was able to subtly change that into a shoulder-in right. In the moments where Gia would "get it", she would really relax her whole body and stretch into my hands quite nicely. They were small moments, but it was a nice start!
Once I had gotten three good passes in each direction, I gave her a little break. When I started her back up again, I aimed for one good pass before asking for the canter. I started out with her tracking left, since that is usually her easier direction. She had a nice trot to canter transition, but after a few steps started hinting at bucking. I picked her head up and added leg and fussed at her. This would happen every few steps for several tries until she finally "got over it" and cantered on quietly for about a lap. I gave her another break before cantering to the right. That direction was much better, with no hints of bucking, although she only made it about 1/2 a lap. I decided not to push for more since it was a more obedient canter, and we finished up with a few down transitions. The trot to walk transitions were very good, and it only took a few walk to halt transitions before she gave me one that was obedient without pulling down.
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