Gia - session 87 - More of the same, but straighter, and better canter work!

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 her heading in that direction, I closed both my legs much tighter and pushed her much more forward until she relaxed and quite thinking about bucking.  As soon as she relaxed, my legs relaxed, and my aids got softer.  Then we were able to canter on without losing focus, and I was even able to get a tiny bit of shoulder-right!  I gave her another brief break, and turned around to do the same thing in the opposite direction.  As soon as she moved into the shoulder-left correctly, I asked for the canter, and pushed her through her thoughts of bucking.  This direction was a little harder, but I was able to get a tiny bit of shoulder-left anyway.  As soon as I released though, she fell out of the canter.  Maintaining the canter will be something to work on another day though.  For today, I was happy to not have to ride through nearly as much bucking!

Finally, in anticipation of taking Gia to an event this weekend, I had to clip her legs and face.  She was quite nervous about it today.  Possibly because I used the clippers with a cord (as opposed to the clippers I had been using on her that were cordless).  The corded clippers are quieter though, so I had hoped that would help, but I ended up having to twitch her the entire time.  She did relax a little, and I took the twitch off part way through, but she tensed up again, so the twitch went back on.  This is just another thing she will have to get used to - allowing me to clip her all in one session without getting so worked up about it.  Knowing Gia, we will get there, but it will take time ...

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