Gia - session 256 - first time jumping in the field!

The ground was slightly frozen again this morning, so Gia and I ventured out into the field again today.  Since it was our jumping day, I thought we would play around over a few of the jumps in the field when the ground thawed.  

No chance to lunge again today, due to the hard ground, but Gia was more relaxed about being in the field since she had been out there yesterday.  While walking around to warm up, I did a lot of circles and leg yields to help her stay focused.  Since she was more focused today, I was able to really use the leg yields more for overall straightness.  Also at the walk, we went over a few of the smaller jumps, just to see how her attitude towards them would be.  It's been a while since we have been in the field and done anything with the jumps, but I believe she has walked over some of the smaller ones before.  She really didn't have any trouble with most of them.  She was a little spooked by a soft spot in the field, which was slightly a different color and slightly soft underfoot.  It took a little bit of work, but I eventually got her to go through it, and she realized that it was no big deal.  She was also slightly spooked about my small stone wall jump.  I think it was more about the soft ground around it rather than the jump itself.  After a few attempts, she did eventually go over it.  After each jump or "obstacle", I gave her a small treat to reinforce the desired behavior.

When we were ready to trot, the ground had thawed enough to make it safe to go over the jumps.  Gia went over all the small jumps in my front field with almost no problems.  She wasn't really worried about the jumps, but if something else caught her eye, she did try to bolt away from the jump.  Typically, I would do small circles to discourage that behavior, but I was concerned about her slipping in the wet fields, so I used strong half halts instead.  By the end of our ride, Gia was jumping fairly quietly over all the small jumps.

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