Gia - session 97 - best stretching on the lunge line so far!

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 she didn't do anything bad.  Then, the hay truck came down the road with a load of hay for one of the fields, and they had to drive through the arena.  That was also quite worrisome, but she didn't misbehave.  Finally, Dylan was carrying some large trash cans near the arena - very scary stuff!  Again, she was worried, and she looked, but she came back to me and didn't do anything naughty!

Since the figure 8's and serpentines were going well today, and keeping in mind my current goal with her is to be able to ride all over the arena, in all types of figures, and keep her in the correct shape, I decided to work on centerline today.  It was definitely very difficult at first.  She has been used to going on a curved line for so long, that asking her to go straight was a completely different story.  She really struggled with wanting to fall to the left as I guided her down centerline.  I had to help her learn to keep her balance on the straight path, using a lot of leg, keeping my own balance and straightness, and keeping my hands slightly wider to help "funnel" her on the line.  By the end, she had really improved.  I will definitely be incorporating this more regularly now!

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