Gia - session 129 - more of the same, but better!
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 counterbending on circles.
In the videos, I tried to be very obvious with the leg that I was using to cue. When Gia is bending to the inside of the circle, I'm using my inside leg. When she is bending to the outside of the circle, I am using my outside leg. I use my leg right at the girth, or slightly behind, and I'm using it in a rhythmic manner, in time with her walk tempo, with a bump or push/release. When I'm not being obvious for the camera, I'm just using a slightly quieter leg. If Gia doesn't respond to my leg, then I add rhythmic tapping of the whip.
At the same time, I am keeping my outside hand down and close to her withers. My inside hand is sometimes down and close to her withers, but sometimes, if she needs a little extra help, I use a leading or opening rein with my inside hand, and sometimes add a slight wiggling of that rein, to help her understand and accentuate the movement.
What I am looking for from Gia is that she moves away from the pressure of my leg. When she does this, I should feel more pressure in my opposite rein, and my inside rein should get a bit lighter.
When I was first teaching Gia this movement, it took a lot of cueing to get her to take a step in the right direction, so as soon as I got one step, I would pause and praise her. Now that she knows what she is doing, I keep asking until I have gotten several steps before I pause or change.
This is the first thing I would teach a horse, out in the middle of the ring, before trying to work on other figures and corners.
Hopefully, this helps to answer Katie's question!
Moving on, we worked on centerlines, diagonal lines, and shoulder-in at the walk.
Then we moved on to diagonal lines and centerlines at the trot. I had to use very few circles in the corners today, and she was super straight on her lines!
I had had a bit of a rough morning with another horse, and Gia was doing so well, that I decided we would end our ride there. We finished with a few walk/halt transitions, until she was straight and more obedient. The last one was probably her best one yet!
If you ever have any questions about anything I do with Gia, or even with stuff regarding your own horse and riding, don't ever hesitate to ask!
Thanx Katie for getting the ball rolling!
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 counterbending on circles.
In the videos, I tried to be very obvious with the leg that I was using to cue. When Gia is bending to the inside of the circle, I'm using my inside leg. When she is bending to the outside of the circle, I am using my outside leg. I use my leg right at the girth, or slightly behind, and I'm using it in a rhythmic manner, in time with her walk tempo, with a bump or push/release. When I'm not being obvious for the camera, I'm just using a slightly quieter leg. If Gia doesn't respond to my leg, then I add rhythmic tapping of the whip.
At the same time, I am keeping my outside hand down and close to her withers. My inside hand is sometimes down and close to her withers, but sometimes, if she needs a little extra help, I use a leading or opening rein with my inside hand, and sometimes add a slight wiggling of that rein, to help her understand and accentuate the movement.
What I am looking for from Gia is that she moves away from the pressure of my leg. When she does this, I should feel more pressure in my opposite rein, and my inside rein should get a bit lighter.
When I was first teaching Gia this movement, it took a lot of cueing to get her to take a step in the right direction, so as soon as I got one step, I would pause and praise her. Now that she knows what she is doing, I keep asking until I have gotten several steps before I pause or change.
This is the first thing I would teach a horse, out in the middle of the ring, before trying to work on other figures and corners.
Hopefully, this helps to answer Katie's question!
Moving on, we worked on centerlines, diagonal lines, and shoulder-in at the walk.
Then we moved on to diagonal lines and centerlines at the trot. I had to use very few circles in the corners today, and she was super straight on her lines!
I had had a bit of a rough morning with another horse, and Gia was doing so well, that I decided we would end our ride there. We finished with a few walk/halt transitions, until she was straight and more obedient. The last one was probably her best one yet!
If you ever have any questions about anything I do with Gia, or even with stuff regarding your own horse and riding, don't ever hesitate to ask!
Thanx Katie for getting the ball rolling!
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