Gia - session 91 - more lunging

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 to help you understand a couple of things.

  This first one is how I wrap up the stirrups whenever I am lunging (except when I want them hanging down to desensitize a young horse).  This is a great way to lock the stirrup in place so that it doesn't slip down as you are lunging your horse.  The biggest reason to keep your stirrups up is so they don't get caught on anything as the horse goes around and around!

The second picture gives you a look at the neck stretcher that I am using on Gia and how I have it attached.  You can also see how I tie up the reins so they don't get tangled around the legs.  Here she is warming up and starting to stretch.  She is nicely low, but I would like to see her reaching her nose more out in front of her.