Gia - session 323 - More schooling at CHP!

 I took Gia back to the Carolina Horse Park on Sunday to school in between our show rounds.  She was still a bit naughty about her left hind boot.  I did find that if I left the front ramp of the trailer open, while we were parked at the show, when she went to kick, she would often kick the metal bar that divided the front two stalls, and, upon hitting it, she would quickly stop the action.  She still tried it throughout the day, but she didn't keep at it for long.  She was otherwise fairly quiet on the trailer.

I pulled her off to lunge once in the morning.  Working on what Charlie and I had discussed the day before, she was much quieter on the lunge.  She could have also been a bit tired from the day before.

The second time I pulled her off to lunge, she was good enough that I saddled up and went up to the warm up arena to school.  On the way up to the ring, Danielle went ahead of her whenever she didn't want to move forward because she saw something that made her nervous - strange dogs, ice on the ground, piles of manure, narrow walkways between two vehicles.  It's all so new and scary for her!

Once we made it into the arena, we spent a lot of time walking until she was a bit more relaxed - lots of circles and changes of direction.  Then we added the trot and did the same thing, until she was fairly relaxed.  Heading back to the trailer was a little less scary.

Later in the day, I had time to pull her off, lunge her, and ride her again.  The lunging was very good.  Walking up to the arena was slightly better.  She started off a little better in the arena, but then she got a bit worse.  I think she had had enough of all the drama and excitement, and just wanted to get back to the trailer.  She kept pulling me, or side stepping, or backing, towards the gate where we had entered the arena.  I worked her down to the opposite end of the arena, and found that keeping my hands wider, when she wanted to go sideways, was very effective.  Once she was quieter, and less prone to trying to escape, I rode her out the arena through the gate at the opposite end.  Almost as soon as we got out of the arena, she was pulling me back to the trailer, so I hopped off and stood with her at the rail until she quieted down a little.  She was a bit frantic for a while, but got quiet for just a moment, so I took advantage of that moment.

Needless to say, she was quite tired after her weekend, so she gets today off!

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