Gia - session 172 - finally back to jumping!
I warmed Gia up with our usual routine. She was a bit stiffer on the right as usual, and needed more straightening work on that side. I interspersed the canter work with the trot work again. She was a bit resistant to canter to the right today. She hesitated more than she has the last few times, and she got a couple of wrong leads. When she did get the canter to the right, it was too quick, and I had to slow her down a lot more. She did give me a decent one by the end though, and her canter to the left was just fine.
So, I decided to add jumping back in to her routine!
We started with six trot poles down centerline. She was a bit surprised by them at first, but quickly remembered how to navigate them. I did have to work on keeping her straight, but otherwise, she did great with the poles!
Then I added a crossrail to the end of the trot poles. That also surprised her the first time, and she drifted hard to the right immediately after the jump. I made sure to keep her straighter for all the successive jumps, but she didn't try as hard to be crooked after the first one. We went through a few times, until I had gotten three that were quiet, straight and correct. She definitely seemed to remember what to do!
We finished our ride by taking a walk in a different field. She had no problems at all walking around in the two new fields, and no problem walking into the pond where the horses typically go in to drink in the new field. However, when I took her to another spot in the pond to try to enter it, she had a very difficult time. This is not a spot where the horses will typically go to drink, so apparently that's the catch for Gia. After a lot of back and forth, I was able to eventually get her to put her toes in, but that's all. We'll definitely keep working on that one.
Finally, once Gia was untacked, I held her while Danielle sprayed off her face. I have been asking Gia to put her head down, with pressure on her poll, each time increasing the number of times I ask her to put it down. We do this for each side of her face, and the left side is usually the hardest. We were up to 7 "head-downs" today on each side. She is almost not even bringing it back up anymore!
So, I decided to add jumping back in to her routine!
We started with six trot poles down centerline. She was a bit surprised by them at first, but quickly remembered how to navigate them. I did have to work on keeping her straight, but otherwise, she did great with the poles!
Then I added a crossrail to the end of the trot poles. That also surprised her the first time, and she drifted hard to the right immediately after the jump. I made sure to keep her straighter for all the successive jumps, but she didn't try as hard to be crooked after the first one. We went through a few times, until I had gotten three that were quiet, straight and correct. She definitely seemed to remember what to do!
We finished our ride by taking a walk in a different field. She had no problems at all walking around in the two new fields, and no problem walking into the pond where the horses typically go in to drink in the new field. However, when I took her to another spot in the pond to try to enter it, she had a very difficult time. This is not a spot where the horses will typically go to drink, so apparently that's the catch for Gia. After a lot of back and forth, I was able to eventually get her to put her toes in, but that's all. We'll definitely keep working on that one.
Finally, once Gia was untacked, I held her while Danielle sprayed off her face. I have been asking Gia to put her head down, with pressure on her poll, each time increasing the number of times I ask her to put it down. We do this for each side of her face, and the left side is usually the hardest. We were up to 7 "head-downs" today on each side. She is almost not even bringing it back up anymore!
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