All The Kings' Horses

I started my ride on Gia much like all the others recently.  I did have to do a lot of circles in the corners, and even on the long sides, at the trot today, before I got the balanced, straight lines I was looking for. Today's big challenge was the canter. It had been a while since I asked Gia to canter.  We've been spending a lot of time honing our walk and trot skills, along with the jumping and work off the property, so the canter kind of got pushed to the back burner. It showed today. I took several videos of the canter, from beginning to end.  As you will see in the videos, it started out pretty rough, but it definitely improved too. Her first few canter steps contained a lot of bucking.  I'm not exactly sure why.  She never bucked like that when I had asked her to canter in the past.  Maybe she was feeling full of herself, or maybe she was surprised, since we hadn't done it in a while.  Each time she bucked, I fussed at her and tried to send her forward.

My ride on Gia started out just like the last few rides.  Stretching circles, diagonal lines, shoulder-ins and centerlines at the walk, and then diagonal lines and centerlines at the trot.  She only needed a couple of circles to help her balance in the corners at the trot today.  She was trying to get a little quick down centerline at the trot though (I guess she's gained some confidence on that elusive line!).  So, I made a down transition to the walk, each time she got too quick, to get her thinking about slowing down rather than speeding up.  It took several tries before she just barely didn't try to speed up, so I let it go on that.  We'll keep working on it though. Next, we worked over the trot poles to the X. On Monday, when I was making the video about using a whip, Danielle had asked me if I wanted a shorter crop, for jumping, rather than a dressage whip.  I answered her with one of my favorite, and often used, sayings - "Jumping is just dressage with obsta

I took Gia to CDP Stables today for her usual visit, but today we took it a step further! Her trailer ride was very uneventful. Dylan asked me this morning why she doesn't wear shipping boots (she wears her lunging/jumping boots instead).  I like to keep trailering as easy and stress free as possible, especially in the beginning.  I typically do not use shipping boots on a horse until they are more relaxed about the whole process.  A horse will usually react quite dramatically the first several times they wear shipping boots, and I don't like to mix that drama with the stress of trailering.  Once Gia is consistently quiet for the trailering process, I will add shipping boots to her attire.  That might actually be in the next few weeks, based on how she has been doing, so stay tuned, it can be quite comical ☺. Anyway, she loaded, rode and unloaded just fine today, both on the way there and on the way home. Once there, she spent some time on the hot walker while I had

I received another reader question last week, so I started off today's ride with a couple of videos to help answer the question. Meagan asked: " I see in your videos that you are using/holding a whip when you ride. I thought green horses are more sensitive therefore the whip would be the last thing you wanted to use. Clearly that is not the case here. What do you use it for with Gia?" My first response to this question is one that my students hear often - "Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it." For me, a whip is just a tool, or an extension of my leg, that I like to have on hand for whenever it is needed. Most of the time, with Gia, I don't use the whip at all, or I use it very lightly, but I always carry it, so that I am always guaranteed to get what I ask for. If I ask Gia to respond to my leg, and I don't get a reaction at all or I don't get a reaction quickly enough, then I add a tap of the whip. How hard I tap

Finally the day has arrived where Gia gets to go over her first jump! I was a little worried that I was getting too excited about it in my head, and it would totally end up flopping. It did not flop. 😊 Gia was tacked up, for her first time, in the jumping saddle.  Yay!! Of course, nothing felt different to her. I started our ride just like any other - stretching circles at the walk, shoulder-in at the walk, diagonal lines and centerlines at the trot.  She started out a little quick today, so I had to do a lot of half halting in the beginning until she relaxed into the work.  She did need a few circles in the corners today at the trot before her lines, but nothing was bad.  Then we went over the 6 trot poles.  They were so EASY! She just floated over them like they weren't even there.  Not too slow, but not too fast either. Finally, the moment I have been waiting for - we got to put up a crossrail.  To build the small gymnastic, I simply take the last two trot

Gia was a statue when I mounted today, and was pretty quiet as I walked off and started asking her to stretch.  For those of you that don't live nearby, we have gotten a lot of rain yesterday and today, so I had quite a large puddle in the arena today.  For some reason, she was extra worried about it.  We worked on walking through it for about 10 minutes.  The temperature had also dropped about 20 degrees since Monday, and all the horses have been a little squirrly.  My guess is that she was just being a bit over-dramatic.  Once we got through the water issue, literally, she was great for the rest of the ride. Her shoulder-in at the walk was better today, especially tracking right.  I didn't need any circles at the walk, and only a couple of circles to the right at the trot, while working on diagonal lines and centerlines.  Her stretching at the walk was very good today. Gia went very well over the four trot poles that I had down for her today, so I ended up adding a fift

Today's ride was pretty much the same as Friday's, but slightly better. Gia was super relaxed when I mounted, and she didn't even move a muscle! I warmed her up with circles to stretch down at the walk, then shoulder-in at the walk, with diagonal lines and centerlines as well.  I didn't have to add any circles before or after her lines at the walk today! At the trot, we worked on circles, diagonal lines and centerlines, as well as trot poles.  She did need several circles in both directions before and after her trot lines. I lengthened the trot poles to 4'6" to start out today, but by the end, I had to move them out to 4'9".  I still had to keep her a bit collected to even make that distance work! We finished up with walk/halt transitions, and those were much more obedient, and almost square too! Going back to the shoulder-in - when I talked about it before, I pointed out that I was not carrying my shoulders straight, and that I would go ba

When I hopped on Gia today and started walking, I thought she felt a little funny. I had seen her in a kicking match with another horse yesterday, and I was worried that she was a little sore, despite not seeing any wounds while grooming. I was starting to feel disappointed, since I was looking forward to starting over trot poles, when I hopped off and asked Danielle to lunge her for me so I could watch her. However, she moved off just fine in all three gaits, so back on I went! She felt perfectly fine for the rest of the ride too! We went through our usual paces - circles to stretch at the walk, shoulder-in at the walk, bending and counterbending on circles at the walk and trot, diagonal lines at the walk and trot, centerlines at the walk and trot.  Everything went pretty well, except she did need a few more circles to the right in the corners.  I don't think I did any circles to the left though.  And, her shoulder-in felt a little steeper today too! Then, the part we&

Dr Swift, from Summit Vet was out today to x-ray Gia's joints. All animals have growth plates in their bones that close and become more solid as the animal (or human) ages to maturity.  In all animals, it is important not to put too much stress on the bones and joints until they are completely formed, and the animal is considered to be skeletaly mature. For example, in humans, it is generally not a good idea for persons under 18 to do serious weight lifting for this reason.  In horses, it is generally not a good idea for horses under 4 to do serious work, especially jumping. (Don't even get me started on horse racing ... ) However, age is not always a determining factor of skeletal maturity.  In some horses, especially larger breeds (like Gia), they can take a bit longer for their growth plates to close. So, for that reason, I like to have the vet come out to x-ray the horse's joints after the horse has turned 4, after their real birthday not just January 1st

Gia was super today! For a brief moment, she seemed a little tense in the crossties when I went to bridle her.  She had been relaxing, and I think I startled her, and I thought about how she was on Monday, and thought about lunging her.  I decided that if she was tense when I went to tighten the girth, or anything else, that I would definitely lunge. She was perfect for everything! As soon as I got on, I started with circles at the walk to encourage her to stretch. Let me pause here for a moment ... On Monday, I received my first "reader request"!  Katie asked: " Could you do a blog sometime about how to keep them from dropping that inside shoulder?" So, I took today's video to respond to Katie's question. I actually took two videos, from two different angles, so that hopefully, you can get a good view of what I am doing with Gia.  It's something I've worked on with her for a while, and talked about in previous blogs - bending and cou

I loaded up Gia today to go to CDP Stables for more off-site learning. Today was the first time she has gotten on the trailer with ZERO hesitation!  She just walked right on and started munching her hay quietly, no piaffeing! Once we got there, I put her on the hot walker while I rode Butch. She was a bit looky and snorty today, but I allowed her to pause and look or touch whatever it was that was scaring her.  That really helped her to relax.  Afterwards, I loosely tied her to the trailer again while I groomed and tacked her in the Pessoa. Her lunging session today was pretty good!  She was a bit distracted, and I had to correct her often, but she always came back to me with little effort.  She was a bit grumpy about being asked to go forward, more so than usual today. I believe this makes three positive lunging sessions off-site, so I will probably try to ride next time.  Probably just adding a bit of walking and working on relaxation. Going home, she walked right on th

I opted to ride Gia without lunging today, but looking back, I do think I should have lunged. Don't worry, nothing bad happened.  She seemed a bit tight in the crossties.  I shifted her saddle, and retightened her girth, and she braced against it.  She also braced against me asking her to move forward and back.  Walking out to the arena, she startled a little at something I couldn't see, and darted a little quickly.  When I got on, she felt tight and against my hand, and not wanting to relax or stretch or release to my stretching aids.  After about 8 minutes of asking for bend and stretch, she finally let go, and we went about the rest of our ride like normal.  Like I said, nothing bad happened, but I want her to have better experiences. Looking forward, I will try to be more alert for these signs, and be prepared to CHANGE MY PLAN. I felt the need to capitalize that last part, not for you guys, although feel free to take it if you need it, but rather for myself.  In

I hopped on Gia with no lunging today.  She was only very slightly quicker and more tense, but not much and not for long. I started with encouraging her to stretch down and quiet her walk.  She was a little stiff with that today, so I decided to start introducing baby shoulder-ins to encourage her to loosen up, bend and stretch.  I'll give you more details on Monday regarding the shoulder-in.  I wasn't planning on doing it today, so I wasn't prepared to video that aspect of things.  It was just one of those things that I thought would help after we got going.  And it really did!  She responded very positively, and very quickly to my request, and was stretching down pretty good!  I will definitely be videoing that move at my next ride! Then I worked on centerline at the walk.  That part was pretty easy today. When we started trotting, I worked with her on centerlines at the trot.  They weren't bad, but I did have to use a lot of small circles before and after the c

I've been doing a lot of Zoom lessons with my students lately, thanks to Covid-19.  Last week, we did a Zoom lesson on free-jumping, with Annie, Cisco and Pippa, and the students loved it!  Free jumping is when a horse goes through a chute and jumps one or more jumps without a rider on their back.  Free jumping is often done with younger horses to see what their potential will be.  It's also often done at certain breed inspections, or Kur's, where a horse is judged on their technique and style over the jumps. Everyone liked that lesson so much that we decided to do it again, but with different horses this time.  Just for fun, we chose to use the smallest horse on the farm - Dover, and the tallest - Gia, of course! Gia had been free jumped before.  Back when she was about 2 years old, and I was considering selling her, I wanted to see what her potential would be, and take a video to show to potential buyers.  If I remember correctly, we only free jumped her that one ti

I took Gia to CDP Stables today for another lunging session off-site.  She loaded on the trailer with much less hesitation than she has previously, and stood VERY quietly while I closed the doors and got ready to leave.  That was a HUGE improvement for her when it comes to trailering.  You may remember me talking about her "piaffeing" in the trailer in the past.  She has typically done that as soon as she is loaded, and then again when we are almost home, or at home.  Another plus for her trailering experience today - she had eaten almost all her hay by the time we got there!  In the past, she has been too stressed to even eat much, but she was definitely more relaxed today! Once there, I put her on the hot walker to relax and warm up a bit while I rode Butch.  She was much less nervous walking out there, and much less nervous once I put her on the hot walker. After riding Butch, I noticed that Cameron, the bodywork specialist that worked on Gia about 2-3 months ago and s

For the last several sessions, Gia has been super with her energy and work ethic, both on the lunge and under saddle.  So today, I decided to forego the lunging and just hop right on. She was fantastic! I think she was a little surprised, at first, that we didn't start with the lunging, but she was only quick for a few steps at the walk, and then a few steps at the trot. We started with a lot of walk work to warm up. I started with circles since they were familiar and easy.  They went pretty well, so I moved on the centerline, with 10m circles before and after, as well as walk/halt transitions.  Her centerlines were MUCH straighter today, but the halts still took a while. Then we moved on to centerlines and circles at the trot.  This was also MUCH better today. Finally, I added diagonal lines at the walk today.   Basic diagonal lines go from letter H to letter F (or vice versa), or letter M to letter K.  You can also go across short diagonal lines - F to

Gia was in a bit of a mood today.  At first she seemed lazy, but when I had to get after her several times, she got a bit grumpy. She wouldn't move her hind end over, on the ground, when I asked her politely, at first, and then with a bit more of a bump, so then I had to resort to poking her more sharply.  She immediately moved over, but then scared herself when the Pessoa dropped off to one side, and then she started acting like she was going to pop up a few times.  In case you haven't met her, she can be a little over dramatic at times ... On the lunge line today, she was a bit lazy, so I had to get after her there as well.  Then she got quite grumpy with pinning her ears.  Once I got on, she seemed fine.  I decided to skip the circle work today, since it had been going so well, and it was pretty easy for her.  So, we moved right into the centerline work. It took a little while, but eventually, Gia was fairly straight at the walk. At the trot on centerline, she was