Gia - 283 - more lunging and jumping in the field

 I took Gia back out in the field again today to play over the jumps on the lunge line and under saddle.

We started by lunging on the flat, where the "scary" hollow is in the field.  She was still a little hesitant, but she did go over it more willingly today.  Then we proceeded to lunge over the steps (easy), the flat tires (a little challenging, but not as bad as Tuesday), the log (easy), the round tires (easy), the white and red barrels (slightly challenging, but not too bad for her first time), and the up and down bank (easy).  After each successful jump, Gia received a tiny treat for incentive.  That definitely helped to motivate her! 

I also lunged her over a few of the stadium jumps with interesting fillers - the barrel, the green rolltop, and the black boxes.  Those were a little more challenging, mostly because the standards are too high for me to simply lunge her over them.  I had to step out in front of the jump and call her/coax her to jump towards me.  She was partly nervous and partly confused, so Danielle helped by guiding her closer to the jump to make it more obvious, and by using the whip to encourage her to stay forward, while I guided her straight with the lunge line.  It was definitely difficult for all involved, but we successfully got over each jump several times.  We finished our lunging session with the hardest jump - the ditch.  I had her follow me over it once, and then lunged her back and forth over it a couple of times.  She was MUCH more willing today!

Next, I hopped on and did a little trotting around the field with lots of circles and leg yields to help her focus.  Once she was ready, I tried her over most of the jumps we had lunged over.  We started with a couple of crossrails to warm up to the idea of jumping in the field, then we proceeded to jump several stadium jumps, including the ones with scary fillers.  Then we moved on to the log, up and down bank, and ditch.  She was a bit quick at times, both before and after the jumps, so I did a lot of circles to help her slow down and rebalance, and to teach her that the speed was not necessary.  She never refused anything I pointed her at though,and after each successful jump, I gave her a treat for incentive.  

Gia was definitely exhausted after our work today, but we were able to get a lot accomplished!

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