Gia - session 362 - schooling at Sharon Oaks

 I took Gia to the Sharon Oaks hunter show to school today.

I had a busy day, with 5 riders to coach and 2 other young horses to school besides Gia, so I didn't get to her until the very end.  Meanwhile, since she really only fits in the back of the trailer, she had to come off and on the trailer several times for other horses to get off and on.  She was quite pissy about it by the end, but it was finally her turn!

I lunged her near the trailer for a few minutes.  She was a little quick at first, but settled down fairly well.

After we tacked her up, I walked her up to the schooling ring to lunge again.  She tried to walk very quickly on our way there, so I had to stop and back her up a lot along the way.  I had brought a little pouch of treats with me today, to reward her for being away from the trailer.  So, as soon as I got her up to the schooling ring, and she was quieter, I gave her a treat.  I gave her a few more throughout our session, as she earned them after relaxing.

She was definitely NOT relaxed on the lunge line at first in the schooling ring, however.  She did a lot of cantering and bucking around.  At first, I think she had a horsefly bothering her, but then I think she was just doing it because.  It took her a while, but she finally settled down enough for me to get on.

As expected, she felt very tense when I got on.  I focused on just leg yielding and bending at the walk, but not putting too much pressure on her.  She eventually started to relax, so I put her up to a trot.  Again, she was tense at first, but finally settled down and really gave me a nice trot at the end!

Once she felt better, I decided to put her over a couple of the tiny schooling jumps.  She approached them fine at first, but then decided to buck a little when she landed.  That went on for several jumps before she finally landed nicely and trotted away from the jump better.  I let her stop there, and gave her a final treat.

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