Gia - session 331 - lunging and jumping at CDP

 Gia and I had a lesson with Charlie at CDP today.  Gia's had a few days off, and Charlie wanted to see how she felt on the lunge line, so he started with her there.  She was a little quick and tense to start, but quickly relaxed and became more obedient and submissive.  

Under saddle, she felt fine at the walk, maybe a tiny bit nervous, but nothing out of the ordinary.  I started with bending and leg yielding - keeping it very simple, and working on getting her neck longer in the process.  At the trot she definitely felt more tense.  She was swishing her tail and acting "bucky" whenever I pushed her with my leg to yield.  She's done this before, so it was nothing new.  I just kept asking what I was asking until she relaxed and got to work.  I also asked her to slow her trot down a little, and that helped a lot.

Over the small vertical that Charlie set up, Gia was really good!  She landed on the correct lead most of the time, and we worked on her balance at the canter after the jump.  Mainly, I focused on pushing her into my lighter rein in an attempt to get her to take both reins equally.  She responded fairly well!

I trailered her in my big trailer again, and she's still giving me a hard time about her hind boots when I load her at home.  She doesn't seem as bothered when I load her at CDP to go home.  I'm planning to try a different approach next time.  Hopefully, something will work!

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