Gia - session 213 - A dressage day at CDP, and some airs above the ground ...

 Gia and I had a lesson with Charlie again today, but we stayed in the dressage arena, rather than the jump ring.  She was very tense, although not nearly as tense as she was on Sunday.  

After a little bit of stretching down, Charlie had us start out by just trying to keep her neck straight, and then positioning her to the left and the right, but only slightly.  She really wanted to be crooked today, so it was not an easy task, but she started to straighten up after a little bit of work.  

Then he had me work on getting her to put her haunches-in on a circle.  This was to be a predecessor to the canter, but Gia was very fussy about the work and was really working against me today.  The first several times I asked for the canter transition, I got it, but with several good bucking attempts.  Charlie said this was because she was trying to move her haunches back out, and to keep focusing on keeping her haunches in.  As I worked to keep her haunches in, and stopped thinking about the canter itself, she started to relax, and then offered the canter on her own.  When she offered it herself, it came without all the bells and whistles of the first few canters.  We finished our ride once she had done a little bit of that in each direction.  Things were definitely harder for her to the left today.  

Afterwards, I gave her a nice, long bath, washing her mane and tail.  She stood very quietly and relaxed for her spa time!

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