Gia - session 216 - A good day of flatwork despite a sour start.

 Gia was quite grumpy while being groomed this morning.  My best guess is that I'm pretty sure she is in heat, and just feeling generally sullen about being touched.  She also had a slight cut on her left hind leg.  It wasn't serious, but we lunged her just to make sure she was sound.  She looked sound on the lunge, but in the past, sometimes with small cuts like this, she has not felt sound under saddle.  With all that in mind, I decided that I would probably just walk around on her for a little bit and work on stretching down, and maybe try the trot to see how she felt.

She felt fairly "normal" when I started our ride this morning.  I focused on our homework - stretching down and staying flexed.  It wasn't her best work, but it wasn't bad either.  When I asked her for the trot, I expected her to suck back or feel slightly off, but she actually felt really good.  So, we continued to work on our homework at the trot - lots of transitions between the walk and trot, working on stretching down and staying flexed throughout, and working on lowering her crest.  Just like with the walk, the trot work wasn't her best, but it wasn't bad either.  She never felt like she didn't want to work, just like it was a bit difficult (no harder than usual though).

Since all that was fairly good, I also decided to work on haunches-in at the walk and trot, in preparation for the canter.  That was definitely hard for her.  Each time I asked for haunches-in, she wanted to collapse her outside shoulder and fall in.  When that happened, I would leg yield back out on the circle.  I repeated all this until I could ask for haunches-in without her shoulder falling in.  Then I felt her offering the canter on her own.  When I allowed her to make the transition, there was never any bucking or even hints of naughtiness today!  However, as soon as she picked up the canter, her shoulder would fall out, and I had to work to keep it in.  I was eventually able to get a canter in each direction where she managed to maintain the straightness in her body.

We definitely had a better ride today than I anticipated, based on how things started out this morning!  Meanwhile, I am looking in to ways to help make her more comfortable during her "time of the month". ☺

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gia - session 955 - lesson at CDP

 I had a lesson with Hayley today at CDP.  Gia felt great today!  We started with a nice, crisp walk, and then moved right into a forward trot.  We worked all over the ring with changes of direction and in a good, steady tempo, we also worked on lengthening and collecting the trot.  Gia was nicely obedient to everything I asked her to do.  When I first asked for the canter, I forgot to keep my arms soft, so it didn't last more than a few steps.  But the second time, I remembered, and stayed a little off her back as well.  It started awkward, and counterbent, but as I stayed soft and following with my seat and arms, she eventually figured out what to do with her body, and started to come nicely around my inside leg.  We did the same thing in the other direction (which is usually her bad direction), but it went really well!  We decided to quite while we were ahead after that!  Hopefully, this ride will carry into this weekend for the show! 
Read more

Gia - session 956 and 957 - War Horse schooling and show

 I took Gia to the War Horse schooling and show this weekend at the Carolina Horse Park.  When I got on Saturday morning, she started out quite tense - wanting to go up in the front, and up in the back as well, but not really wanting to go forward.  I finally did get her forward, eventually, and slowly, and we made it to the stadium warm up.  After warming up with some trot, and over a few jumps, we schooled the stadium course.  She was a bit nervous, but did OK otherwise.  So, on to cross country schooling.  She felt fairly the same on cross country - a little nervous, but at least by that time, she was moving forward.  She was a bit nervous about a couple of the jumps, and some of the soggy ground.  We "discussed" it, and then she was able to get over/through it.  She felt a lot more confident by the end. On Sunday, she felt fine when I got on for dressage.  I warmed her up in the grass, near the barns, first, where she could stay calmer.  She was fairly responsive and rela
Read more

Gia - session 947 - lesson at CDP

 I took Gia to CDP for a lesson today.  She was very good with her shipping boots this morning - no drama at all!.  She was also pretty good for getting on the trailer, with me on the off side.  She did get her head a little stuck on the wrong side of the divider, but I quickly got it unstuck, and she was good to go. I warmed Gia up deep and low at the walk and trot with lots of changes of bend and direction, all over the ring.  She was a bit spooky and resistant, but we worked through it, and she started to settle down, relax, and stretch her neck out a little.  I added canter transitions, and those went fairly well.   Susan worked with us today.  She had me focus on Gia's rhythm and the timing of her footfalls at all gaits.  She also had me focus on my straightness in the saddle and my alignment with Gia, as well as Gia's straightness on the circle, and through changes of direction.  We worked through transitions between the gaits, and they gradually improved, and I felt Gia
Read more