Gia - session 175 - Schooling at the Sharon Oaks hunter show, and we make it into the actual show ring!

 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 galloping around.  I had to do a lot of circles to get her attention back on me, but eventually she did ignore them.  She'll have to get used to stuff like that at shows anyway!

She eventually was going quite well at the trot, so I decided to venture down into the HUGE show arena.  They were on a lunch break, so no one was showing, but there were many riders warming up, going in all different directions, at all different speeds, and over jumps - typical warm-up chaos.  And, this was her first time in a covered arena.  That part didn't seem to bother her as much as all the other horses going all around her.  She was definitely quite nervous at first.  She spooked several times at several different things/horses.  We did a lot of circles.  Sometimes to get her attention, and sometimes just to stay out of the way of someone who wasn't steering well.  Eventually, she started to relax and build some confidence, and we were able to walk and trot all around the arena.  

I ended our ride after that, and walked back to the trailer.  She seemed very tired, but pleased with herself as I untacked her and loaded her on the trailer to go home. ☺

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