All The Kings' Horses

Gia has been a bit of a brat lately.  She has gotten a little big for her britches (and her britches are pretty big!), and is trying to boss too many horses and people around.  I decided that she needed to be off by herself for a while to chill out, so I have moved her into a field where is alone, and can learn to be a bit more humble.  She spent quite a bit of time on Monday, running along the fenceline, trying to get the other horses' attention, and upset that she wasn't getting fed first and getting attention from the others.  I think she was also upset that she couldn't stand in the corner and watch the lessons in the afternoon.  I wasn't able to work with her on Monday, simply due to not having enough time that day, because I had to cover for someone else.  And on Tuesday, I decided not to take her to my lesson to walk on the hot walker, because she had gotten herself so worked up the day before, that she was just too stressed.  And I didn't want to add the s

On the lunge line today, I had Gia continue to add a bit more impulsion at the trot.  She was definitely less grumpy today than on Wednesday! Under saddle, we warmed up with all the same things - bending and counterbending at the walk and trot, and walking and trotting down centerline. Today, I focused on helping her understand what I want her to do when I ask her to halt from my seat.  The key to this sentence, and to training in general, is "helping her to understand".   She doesn't know what I want until I explain it to her, or teach it to her.  Now is not the time to "test" her, but rather the time to "teach" her.  When we go to our first competition, that will not be the time to "test" her either, but rather to "teach" her what competitions are all about.  There will come a time to "test" her, when she completely understands the material at hand, and is much more relaxed in a new, unfamiliar environment.

I warmed Gia up with work on the lunge line.  She started out so stretchy, so I decided to ask for more impulsion.  She gave it to me, but was a bit grumpy about it.  She hasn't pinned her ears at me while lunging the last few times, but she did a lot of that today, and once, tried to slightly charge at me.  I got after her for that one by making her work harder on the circle, and she didn't try it again.  Under saddle, we started with bending at the walk on circles, figure 8's and down centerline.  We repeated the same work at the trot.  Since all that was going so well, I decided to add down transitions on centerline. Most dressage tests will start and end with the rider entering the arena at letter A (see picture of dressage arenas here), then coming down centerline, and halting at X.  A lot of riders don't put enough emphasis on these two movements, but to me, it's where you make your first and last impressions on the judge! Up to now, I've asked Gia

So, today was terribly windy after a nasty storm we had last night.  I decided it would be in my best interest to stay on the ground and just lunge Gia today.  She was super for the lunging.  She started out very stretchy at the walk, and kept it at the trot.  She was super relaxed the entire time too! Afterwards, when Danielle was untacking her however, a huge gust of wind came through and she about lost it!  It literally scared the crap out of her, and she got extremely nervous, piaffing and half rearing! Definitely glad I decided not to ride today!

It was a little rainy today when I was ready to work with Gia, and I didn't really feel like sitting on a saddle that had gotten wet while lunging, so I opted not to lunge today for that reason.  It wasn't terrible, but I definitely noticed a difference.  She was slightly more wiggly at the mounting block, and while not bad, she was a little more tense and not as relaxed throughout the ride as well.  You may even notice a difference in the video I will include when I post this to Facebook. We worked on bending and counterbending on circles at the walk and trot, as well as stretching down.  We also worked on centerline at the walk and trot.  She did about the same with both of those exercises as she has done for the past few rides, maybe slightly better in her reactions, but also slightly more tense today. I finished up my ride with diagonal lines at the walk.  I will go into more detail about diagonal lines in my next post.  Stay tuned!

Gia and I worked on all the same things today.  However, Gia was fantastic with her stretching and bending today!  She started out on the lunge line super relaxed and stretchy right away.  I didn't bother counting the steps of stretch, since it was about 90% good stretch, with just a few times that she came up slightly.  She was also much less grumpy - only slightly pinning her ears at me once.  And very willing to stretch equally in both directions. Under saddle, she did try to walk away when I was getting on.  She only got one step before I reminded her to be still, and then she waited until I was ready.  We went right to work on bending and counterbending on circles at the walk and trot.  She quickly gave me what I was asking for, including a LOT of stretching!  Then we worked on centerline at walk and trot.  It was tough at first, but got much better by the end.  I took a video today, which I will include in my Facebook post.  Today's video was taken at the walk, as Gia