All The Kings' Horses

 Gia and I worked on moving off my leg on circles at the walk and trot again today.  She had particular trouble moving off my right leg.  She was very resistant to it, and a bit pissy too.  At times, she got tired of me asking her to move off my leg, so she bucked up and kicked out.  I put her on a much tighter circle when she did that.  She did find it pretty easy to move off my left leg though.  I mostly stayed at the walk and trot with her today, but she did move into the canter a few times when she was trying to avoid my leg.   Her acting out is probably due to frustration, however, it is still unacceptable behavior.  She is most likely frustrated because she is used to me asking her to move off my leg, but then she is able to balance on my hands.  I'm not providing that balance for her anymore, and she is not quite sure what to do.   It's not that easy for me either.  To avoid the habit I have of using my hands too much, I'm purposely keeping a pretty loose rein, and p

 So, today was supposed to be a jumping day for Gia, however, things don't always go as planned.  As an aside - as a VERY type A personality, I have to work hard to remember to be flexible when it comes to horses. ☺ Anyway, I started by warming up with the homework from my lesson yesterday with Hayley.  Once I had warmed up with circles and bending and counterbending at the walk and trot, I was going to work over ground poles, and, hopefully, get to a crossrail.  However, the flat work was a big challenge today. I'm not sure if it was an excess amount of energy (she didn't feel excited when I got on), or flies bothering her (despite the flyspray she already had, we flysprayed her again), or if it was simply because I was asking her to move off my leg, but without the "normal" restrictions of my hands, but she was extremely sensitive and reactive to my leg aids today, at the walk and trot.   She seemed annoyed when I first started asking her to move off my leg on t

 Charlie was out of town today, so my dressage lesson on Gia was with Hayley.  We worked in the jump arena, but very near the gazebo and scary side of the ring.   Hayley had me do a lot of work on pushing Gia out of the circle to create more bend, and to distract her from whatever she was spooking at at the time.  She also had us do a little work on leg yielding towards the center of the circle.  Most of which we have practiced before. The biggest thing that Hayley had us do a little differently, was for me to push Gia to go more, especially when I really wanted to hold her back.  When Gia was feeling spooky or explosive, I was doing a lot of half halting (self-preservation instincts kick in).  However, Hayley had me work on letting go more and using the turning of the circle to control and maintain her rather than my hands. Let me tell you - that took a lot of guts!  I was sure that Gia was going to explode right out from under me, and Hayley is sitting on the sidelines saying "G

 Gia loaded up nicely on the trailer this morning to go school at the Carolina Horse Park again!  She had to hang out on the trailer a little bit, while Butch and Pippa schooled first.  Then it was her turn. As soon as I pulled her off the trailer, I picked out her feet, put on her boots and took her out to lunge.  She was a bit vocal at first, talking to Pippa, but she quieted down after a little bit.  She was very looky on the lunge line though, and it took a while until I had her attention more on me.  We did a lot of trotting in each direction, stopping to rest when she was more relaxed, and starting back up again when she got distracted. Eventually, I thought she was quiet enough to tack up and hop on.  Although, she wasn't as quiet as I had hoped, and not as quiet as she has been in the past.  Right away, I started gently asking her to move off my leg on a circle, bending and counterbending.  She was quiet pissed that I was asking her to do stuff, and kept kicking out at my l

Gia seemed much more relaxed when I got on her this morning, so we continued with the homework that Charlie had given us. At the walk, I worked with her on stretching down, bending and counterbending in each direction.  That was fairly easy for her, although, as usual, she was a bit stiffer to the right than she was to the left. It was also fairly easy for her at the trot, where I pretty much did the exact same thing.  I was able to get a lot of moments where she was stretching down really well! I attempted to get the same thing at the canter in each direction.  It was definitely more of a challenge, but I was able to get a nice moment or two in each direction.  She definitely has a harder time cantering to the right than she does to the left, and it's harder for her pick up that lead as well.  She gave me a few wrong leads in that direction, and she was less balanced, quicker, and not as straight, when cantering to the right as well.  This also led to a less organized down transit

When I first got on Gia today, I felt a lot of pent up energy, so I decided to hop off and lunge her first.  I did 5 minutes of trot and 2 minutes of canter in each direction.  It was a lot easier to keep her going today, especially at the canter,  but she was a bit grumpy, still, when I asked her to go forward. When I got back on her, we started with a lot of stretching down on circles at the walk and trot, bending and counterbending.  Basically, we did our homework! Once she felt loosened up, I started her over the trot poles.  After each set of poles, I would go back to the stretching and bending work on the circles.  She did a really good job with the stretching and bending, but she was still a bit to exuberant for the poles, and eventually, the crossrail we set up for her. The fist time or two over the jump, she was a bit hesitant.  Then she was crooked.  Then she was too fast.  I finally got one trip over the jump that was decent, and let her end on that.

 Gia had her first lesson with Charlie today! Gia had an uneventful trailer ride to CDP today, and since they were on a tight schedule, she had some new grooms getting her ready.  She may have tried to nip at them once (naughty girl!).  She has a routine that she is used to at home, and a routine that she is used to when we go places, but she will have to learn to be more flexible, especially at shows, with who gets her ready and how they do it.  It may seem like a minor detail, but things like this can be a big deal to horses. We rode in the jump ring today, since she is more comfortable there.  She was unusually looky and quick, and felt a little explosive at times (which she acted on later).  I thought I felt the same, but she could have felt something different in me, the excitement of something new.  Horses are very intuitive creatures, and can easily pick up on cues we don't even realize we are putting out. Charlie had us walk and trot, working on a circle, with bending and c

 Gia was amazing today! I was taking a student to the Sharon Oaks hunter show today, so Gia got to tag along.  She's been here a few times before, and each time she goes a little bit better. She was a bit dramatic when we got to the show, pulling Patti off the trailer to compete, and leaving Gia on all alone.  She did quite a bit of stomping and pawing, but she eventually settled down. When it was her turn, she stood tied to the trailer quite well while I groomed and tacked her. We started out lunging in the warm up arena.  This is something she's done before, and she was actually really quiet for it today! Then, I hopped on and rode in the warm up arena.  She did ok for this part.  She was doing well at the walk, but when I asked for the trot, she was a bit quick.  I brought her back to the walk several times until she trotted off quieter.  She got a little pissy at one point and threw in a big buck.  Then, she was doing fine at the trot ... until a couple of ponies started ga

 I started out with stretching down at the walk today, as well as some turn-on-the-forehand work at the walk, and some lateral work at the trot.  All of that went really well! Then I moved on to walk/trot transitions. Gia wanted to get a bit quick when I would ask for the up transition to the trot.  So, each time she did, I would bring her back to the walk and ask again.  By having the walk transition immediately after a bad trot transition, she starts to anticipate that the walk is coming right up, so she is less eager to trot too fast.  In my first video today, you can see the difference between a good transition and a bad one at the trot.  In the second video, you can see it at the canter.  It took quite a few more tries at the canter to get a good one, than it did at the trot. After the ride, I clipped her face and bridle path.  She was not a fan of this today, so I did have to twitch her.  It had been a while since I clipped her face, so I'll try to stay more in practice with

 I finally got to ride Gia again after about a week off! She ended up developing a little bit of  cellulitis  in her left hind leg.  The cut that preceded it was tiny, but sometimes that all it takes.  I was able to get some antibiotics from the vet, and that cleared everything up very quickly. Since she has been out of work, I decided to keep today's ride very easy. We started with a lot of stretching down at the walk.  Then we moved on to some turn-on-the-forehand work at the walk.  Finally, we finished with some turn-on-the-forehand work at the trot, along with some walk/trot transitions. She did pretty well with everything.  We pretty much picked up right where we left off.  When I first started asking for the lateral work at the trot though, she either got a little confused or excited, and burst into a brief canter.  I made sure to be more clear about keeping her slower when I asked her to move laterally after that. After the ride, Danielle held her in the grass to eat while I

Gia came in yesterday with a small cut and a swollen leg.  It's only a tiny cut, but apparently she is very sensitive about it, and it was a bit swollen.  So, rather than ride, I iced and sweat wrapped it. Whenever a leg is swollen, one thing that is almost always recommended is to apply some sort of cold treatment.  Most of the time that means cold-hosing the leg.  When cold-hosing a leg, you have to basically stand with the horse for 20 minutes, letting a cold stream of water run down the swollen area of the leg.  Definitely not a great way to spend precious time!  Other options are to train the horse to stand in a bucket of ice cold water (not as difficult as it sounds), or to use ice wraps.  I have a set of ice wraps that I regularly use after Butch has jumped really hard.  So, I applied an ice wrap to Gia's left hind leg, and let her stand for about 20 minutes.  She was a little fidgety when I first put it on, but then stood perfectly still the rest of the time.  I'v