Gia - session 180 - Lesson with Hayley!

 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 "Go for more!!  Let her go!!"  Very easy to say when you are 17 hands lower than I am ☺.  But I put on my big girl panties, and did exactly as she said, grimace on my face and all.  

It actually worked!  When I stopped micro-managing (no comments from the peanut gallery) and balancing Gia myself, she actually had to figure out how to do it on her own, and she got pretty good!  

We worked at the walk and trot, and once in each direction at the canter.  Then she had us do a little bit of leg-yielding down the long sides.  With Gia more forward and balancing herself, the leg yields felt great, and she did them easily!

Needless to say, Gia was quite tired after all that.  She even stood pretty quietly in the wash pit for her bath!

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