Gia - session 99 - more of the same ... but better!

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 and I are working on bending and counterbending on circles.  When she is correctly bent, she is shaped the same as the circle.  When she is counterbent, her body is bent in the opposite direction of the circle she is working on.  I want you to notice how my position changes to help her change her bend.  My body is positioned to the right if we are bending or counterbending to the right, and positioned to the left if we are bending or counterbending to the left.  I'm planning to get a video of all this at the trot at our next session.  Enjoy!

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