Gia - session 303

I took Gia to the show I was at with Butch yesterday, and Charlie helped me work with her.  He lunged her for about 20 minutes in the morning before my classes started.  Of course, she was a perfect angel for him.  Although, I do have two theories about that.  One - I only brought her with me, not any of her other friends from the barn (she doesn't really remember Butch, and he didn't travel in the trailer with her, so he doesn't count).  Two - I hauled her in my smaller trailer.  Most of the time, when I take her to shows, I am also taking several other horses, so I use my bigger trailer.  She doesn't ride in that one as often, so I don't think she's very comfortable in it, or she might associate it with stressful show grounds.  I will probably start hauling her each week to Charlie's in my big trailer.  As ridiculous as we might look with one horse in a six horse trailer, maybe it will help get her more comfortable.

Later, after my rides on Butch, Charlie lunged her again for about 15 minutes.  She was good for him then too, so I tacked her up and we went up into the schooling area.  I've ridden Gia at this show before, but only in the parking area near the trailers, not all the way up in the warm up area.  She was a bit nervous walking through the trailers, and stopped when I tried to get her to cross the woods into the grassy area near the warm up ring.  We walked back and forth a few times until another horse came along that she could follow through the woods.  Then we walked a bit in the grassy area just outside the warm up ring.  She was pretty good there, but definitely concerned about the tents and the large buildings.

We ended up going in the warm up ring at the far end away from all the big stuff.  Once in there, we worked on lots of circles and leg yields all over the ring.  When she felt good at the walk, we did the same thing at the trot.  She was still nervous about the tents and buildings, and there were some barriers with sand bags that were scary too!  We got near or around most of it ok.  

Heading out of the ring, we tried the gate closer to the front, and all the busy-ness.  She was quite nervous, but we got through it and headed back to the trailer.  She did fairly well walking back, maybe looking at just a few things.  Overall, her best ride at a show grounds so far!

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