Gia - session 338 - schooling at the Carolina Horse Park

I took Gia down to the Carolina Horse Park today, along with a couple of students, to school.  Gia only fussed about her hind shipping boots one time - much better than usual!  I loaded her in the back of the trailer, and she seemed to have enough room, and she didn't fuss at all either!  Maybe I've finally figured out this issue! (fingers crossed).

Once we got to the Horse Park, I pulled her off the trailer to lunge her.  She was pretty quiet, so I only worked with her a few minutes.  I decided to put her up in a stall for the weekend, so I got that ready for her and put her in.  She seemed to settle fairly well.

After schooling with my students, I came back to check on Gia.  She had gotten herself a bit upset when she saw her friends walk by, so she was pacing in the stall and hollering a lot.  This is pretty typical behavior for a young horse, and they usually figure it out.  

I pulled her out for another lunging session, and, as expected, it took a little longer to get her settled this time.  Once she seemed quieter, I took her back to the stall to tack up.  Then we walked up to the warm up ring for more lunging around the outside of the ring.  She was pretty worked up in that area, so the lunging took a while longer.  

When she seemed relaxed enough, I got on and worked with her in the warm up ring at the walk and trot, on circles and bending and leg yielding.  She was antsy at first, but only for a few minutes, then she settled down and focused.  We rode around in the warm up ring for a little while, and then she felt good enough that I thought we could venture into one of the empty dressage arenas.  She was a little nervous in the new area, and with the fancy show fencing around the ring, but I put her back to work with circles and leg yields and bending, and she quickly focused on me again.  When she was good at the walk, we worked at the trot as well, and before long, we were working all over the ring, and even going through the puddles.  

Once she seemed comfortable inside the ring, I walked her around the outside of several of the dressage arenas, including through the puddles.  She was pretty good with all that, so I hopped off and we headed back to the barn and called it a day.  This was definitely the best she's ever been at the Horse Park! Little by little, she's getting it!