Gia - session 339 - more schooling at CHP

 Gia seemed a bit tired and lonely when I checked in on her this morning to give her breakfast.  She did perk up a little when she saw me, but her first time overnight at a show was definitely exhausting for her.

I was hoping that meant she would be a little more tired when I worked her ... but, no.

I started out lunging her near the barn.  She seemed fine there, and, after just a few minutes, I brought her back to the barn to tack her up.

Then we walked up to the (very busy) warm up ring.  Once there, I started lunging her again.  She had woke up by then, and all she really wanted was to get back to the barn, and back to her friends.  I lunged her all along the outside of the warm up ring, for quite a while, until she had calmed down considerably, and started paying more attention to me.

I had to walk her through the ring to the mounting block, and she was fairly good for that, so I hopped on.  I repeated the same work we did yesterday under saddle (the same work we do at CDP and at home) - lots of circles, changes of direction, leg yields and bending.  Once she was fairly good at the walk, I bumped her up to the trot.  She felt a little squirrely at both gaits at first, so I kept my aids soft but consistent until she started to pay more attention to me rather than trying to get back to the barn.  She always looked that way when she got the chance, but I could feel her relaxing more and listening to me more.  She didn't feel quite as good as yesterday when it was a lot less crowded, but it was still pretty good, so I let her end on that.

The rest of her stay in the stall, and her trip home was nicely uneventful.

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