Gia - session 142 - Gia's first time under saddle schooling at a horse show!
We were finally able to get some horses and riders out to a show today after several long months of no competing!
So, I brought Gia along today to school.
She was quite fussy on the trailer. I had to take my larger trailer (lately, she has been riding in the smaller one), and although it doesn't seem like a big deal to us, riding in a different trailer is a big deal to a horse. Gia got on just fine, but did a LOT of piaffeing once she was on. In this trailer I have to take out the first divider, so Gia actually has two stalls to herself so she doesn't feel too cramped, but she was still stressed.
Once we got there, she stayed on the trailer while my students competed. She was pretty quiet for the most part, but started to act up when another horse at another trailer was getting her attention. Nothing too bad, just more piaffeing.
When it was finally her turn, I pulled her off and tied her loosely to the trailer. She was a bit more fidgety than that last few times, but she did settle somewhat.
Once I had her tacked up, I walked her up to the schooling arena to lunge her. She was a bit nervous walking through the show grounds, and stopped briefly at a few very random, scary things.
When I first started lunging her, she was quite full of herself! There were a couple of other horses in the small ring, and she was very anxious about that. Being the alpha at home, she usually controls the other horses. I got the feeling that she wanted to do that here, but since she wasn't able to, she was throwing a bit of a tantrum - lots of bucking, throwing herself around, going quite fast. Working with other, strange horses in an arena is something that she will have to get used to, and it's one of the reasons I bring her places to practice.
She did eventually settle down on the lunge line. My plan with the lunging was to work her anytime she lost focus, and let her relax when she was paying attention to me rather than whatever else was going on. We mainly stayed at the trot, but there was a little cantering mixed in, and I did not run my timers.
Once she was much more relaxed, I hopped on. She actually stood very still while I mounted, and was really relaxed for pretty much our entire ride!
I started with a lot of circles and stretching at the walk, going all over the arena. I also used very wide hands to help get, and keep, her attention and stretch. She was originally distracted by many things around and outside the arena, but quickly settled.
Once that was pretty good, I added trot. Amazingly, I had no problems with her at the trot at all! I worked her through several circles, and then worked on getting a nice down transition to the halt.
Back at the trailer, I untacked her and loaded her back up. She was tired enough that she didn't fuss at all the rest of the way home.
Today's outing went much better than I could have expected for Gia!
So, I brought Gia along today to school.
She was quite fussy on the trailer. I had to take my larger trailer (lately, she has been riding in the smaller one), and although it doesn't seem like a big deal to us, riding in a different trailer is a big deal to a horse. Gia got on just fine, but did a LOT of piaffeing once she was on. In this trailer I have to take out the first divider, so Gia actually has two stalls to herself so she doesn't feel too cramped, but she was still stressed.
Once we got there, she stayed on the trailer while my students competed. She was pretty quiet for the most part, but started to act up when another horse at another trailer was getting her attention. Nothing too bad, just more piaffeing.
When it was finally her turn, I pulled her off and tied her loosely to the trailer. She was a bit more fidgety than that last few times, but she did settle somewhat.
Once I had her tacked up, I walked her up to the schooling arena to lunge her. She was a bit nervous walking through the show grounds, and stopped briefly at a few very random, scary things.
When I first started lunging her, she was quite full of herself! There were a couple of other horses in the small ring, and she was very anxious about that. Being the alpha at home, she usually controls the other horses. I got the feeling that she wanted to do that here, but since she wasn't able to, she was throwing a bit of a tantrum - lots of bucking, throwing herself around, going quite fast. Working with other, strange horses in an arena is something that she will have to get used to, and it's one of the reasons I bring her places to practice.
She did eventually settle down on the lunge line. My plan with the lunging was to work her anytime she lost focus, and let her relax when she was paying attention to me rather than whatever else was going on. We mainly stayed at the trot, but there was a little cantering mixed in, and I did not run my timers.
Once she was much more relaxed, I hopped on. She actually stood very still while I mounted, and was really relaxed for pretty much our entire ride!
I started with a lot of circles and stretching at the walk, going all over the arena. I also used very wide hands to help get, and keep, her attention and stretch. She was originally distracted by many things around and outside the arena, but quickly settled.
Once that was pretty good, I added trot. Amazingly, I had no problems with her at the trot at all! I worked her through several circles, and then worked on getting a nice down transition to the halt.
Back at the trailer, I untacked her and loaded her back up. She was tired enough that she didn't fuss at all the rest of the way home.
Today's outing went much better than I could have expected for Gia!
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