Gia - session 176 - Gia's first lesson with Charlie!

 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 counterbending.  All stuff that was very familiar to her, which did help her settle, eventually.  We also did a little bit of canter, where she demonstrated some of her bucking skills.  Nothing too bad, but I had felt it coming all along, so I was prepared.

Our homework is to work on stretching down even more, especially at the canter.  It is very easy for her to come up in her neck, to what will eventually be a very correct dressage frame, but Charlie wants her to develop more stretch first and be less up, for now. 

After her ride and bath (she was a little better in the wash pit, but was very anxious about having her face sprayed off), Cameron worked on her body pretty good with a lot of chiropractic and stretching.  He also gave us a couple new stretches to add to our pre-ride routine.  She was a bit tense at first (probably partly because she was in the scary wash pit), but she eventually relaxed and seemed to enjoy the body work.