Gia - session 322 - schooling at the Carolina Horse Park!

 I took Gia to the Carolina Horse Park today to school, along with several other horses and students.  I gave her the Total Calm and Focus calming paste before we left the barn this morning.  She was about the same with her hind shipping boots, and about the same when I loaded her on the trailer.  During the day, at the show grounds, she was a little unruly on the trailer, especially when other horses would come and go.  She wasn't as naughty today as she was at the last Sharon Oaks show though ...

When I had time, I pulled her off the trailer to lunge her.   I was able to fit in two lunging sessions - one, first thing in the morning, and another about mid-day.  She was about the same for both.  It took about 20 minutes for her to start relaxing on the lunge line.  In the beginning, she was calling out alot, and VERY distracted.  Every time she got distracted I would get her attention back on me, and then be still when I had her attention.

For her last session, I pulled her off the trailer and Charlie lunged her.  He did pretty much the same thing with her that I did except he didn't try to get her attention on him as often.  He allowed her to look around and relax on her own.  It took about the same amount of time, but it might be less annoying for her.

Once she was a little better, we saddled her up and I hopped on.  I went with Charlie up to the schooling area, like we did last time.  She was quite nervous in a few places, especially one area where the path gets very narrow.  She was not as relaxed as last time, probably because it was so much busier, so Charlie put the lunge line on to lead her while I rode.  It definitely helped her confidence (and mine) to have Charlie leading her.  He kept her on the lunge line all the way into the arena, and even for a little while as she got used to being in the arena. 

We started with just getting her attention at the walk, and when that felt better, we did the same thing at the trot.  Right about when she was starting to feel better, a very large water truck came into the arena.  That had her a bit un-nerved, so Charlie kept us on the lunge line until the truck was gone and Gia relaxed again.  Then we were on our own.  We just stuck with trotting circles and bending and changing direction.  Keeping it very simple, and allowing her to relax.  She ended up doing quite well, and did not need a leader to get back to the trailer at the end!

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