Gia - session 185 - We practiced our jumping homework!

 I warmed Gia up with asking her to move off my leg at the walk and trot on circles in both directions.  She was very quiet at the walk, but at the trot, she was still a little fussy and quick to canter.  When she canters off, or speeds up, rather than moving off my leg sideways, I put her on an even smaller circle.  The smaller circle is much harder, so she learns that she has to work harder if she goes incorrectly.

Once the walk and trot were better, I started working on our jumping homework from Tuesday.  We set up a pole to an X to another pole to help her with her footwork.  Then I just had to show her how to get there.  As we approached the jump through the turn, if she got too quick or the turn wasn't so good, then we circled and approached again.  If she kept herself together through the turn, then I let her jump.  After the jump, if she got too quick, then we immediately went into a small circle.  She was quite awkward after a lot of the jumps, but the circle taught her to balance herself and be patient.  We were able to get one good jump, from start to finish, in each direction by the end.

I cooled her out with a little work on her halt transitions.  She was a bit resistant to those, and has been for a while.  I will probably work on those with some treats next time. 

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