Gia - session 171 - I ride Gia bareback, and we go a little deeper in the pond!

Gia did all the same flat work stuff that we've been working on lately.  Nothing felt too hard.  She is still a little crooked, with her haunches going more to the left.  I talked to Cameron about that yesterday, and he had me adjust the way we are using the Theraband pads with Gia.  Hopefully, that will help. 

I sprinkled the canter work in with the trot work again.  She only missed one of her leads to the right.  When she picked up her canters today, she did start out a little fast, but came right back when I asked.  She also had nice, balanced down transitions.

Since Gia has been really enjoying walking into the pond, I decided I would take things a step further today, literally, and let her go a little deeper and play a little longer.  When we finished our flatwork and were ready to head out in the field, I hopped off and unsaddled her and changed into some old shorts and boots.  I wasn't sure how wet I might get!  Then I somehow managed to get back on her with no saddle (I did use the mounting block, but I still had to belly up first ☺).  She will definitely not be a horse I ride bareback very frequently, and probably nothing more than a walk.  She has very sharp withers and a bony back!  I was slightly concerned about how she would do when she felt me with no saddle, but she didn't seem to mind.  She did notice, and walked a little hesitantly, but she didn't do anything bad.  Once she realized we were heading to the pond, I felt a little more swing in her step.  She walked right in and started pawing.  I encouraged her to go a little deeper, and she really seemed to enjoy herself.  She went in all the way up to her belly, and didn't try to lay down or do anything naughty.  I wanted to take her a little deeper, but in order to do that I need to enter the pond from another side, and I didn't want to try something brand new while I was bareback.  We will definitely come back and try that another day though!

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