Gia - session 237 - lunging and jumping

 I lunged Gia in the dressage arena at CDP today before I rode her.  She was actually quite relaxed, except when she passed by the gazebo, but after a few times through, she was less worried about it.  

My ride today was brief, but she was so much more relaxed than she has been!  During my trot warm up, I worked on leg yielding left and right as we worked around the arena.  She was nervous about a few areas of the ring, but after several passes and several leg yields, she was more relaxed.  

Then we worked over several different small jumps and flower boxes.  She was hesitant only to the first one or two.  After that, she went over everything willingly.  Whenever she cantered afterwards, I played around with the canter, mainly working on keeping her head up because she was kicking out a little.  With her head up, she isn't able to get the leverage she needs to really buck.  I think she was kicking out because she was trying to figure out what to do with her legs at the canter (she does have a lot of leg to figure out after all!).  I never got the feeling that she was grumpy or pissy or feeling feisty, just confused about her anatomy.  She only kicked out at the very beginning, and the rest of the canters were quite good.  I actually think her canter to the right was better today than her canter to the left.  

When we left the ring, she seemed quite proud of her accomplishments for the day!

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