All The Kings' Horses

 Gia did more of the same today as she did yesterday.  Once she was done with her lunging, I hopped on for a brief (10 minute) walk around the fields.  She was a bit nervous out in the fields, despite the fact that she lives in the exact same fields 24/7 (eye roll!).  There wasn't anything in particular going on in the fields today, but she felt tense and looky.  I worked with her on relaxing and stretching, and she felt a bit better by the end.

 Gia and I both got back to work today!  Me after a nice week of vacation, and Gia after a three week hiatus due to her injury (she could have come back to work over a week ago, but she got extra time off since I was on vacation). I kept it pretty easy on her today.  We tacked her up in the Pessoa lunging system, which is great for allowing a good stretch, and getting a horse to move out.  I did three sets of 2 minute trots in each direction, with a 2 minute walk break in between each set.  She was a little lazy, and a little sluggish in her responses, but otherwise, she seemed to do pretty good!

 Gia came in with a swelling on her lower, outside, right hind leg just above the fetlock.  She was not visibly off, although, when the vet came out, she said she did detect a slight lameness.  There was pitting edema, which is usually indicative of an infection called cellulitis, however, the other symptoms that typically go along with cellulitis - pain, discomfort, heat, increased temperature - were not there.  The vet and I were both stumped as to whether it is actually cellulitis or just a soft tissue injury.  So, we are treating it for both.  Antibiotics and bute for the cellulitis, and icing, poulticing and rest for the soft tissue injury.   When I took off her bandage today, the swelling was almost completely gone, so we are definitely heading in the right direction. I will post a video, when I post this blog, describing how to apply a poultice. Enjoy!

 I decided to work Gia on long lines today to see if I could figure out why she's been so grumpy lately. She was actually really good! I started just asking her to move forward, concentrating on keeping her poll up, not letting her drop her head down too low. Anytime she got too low, I would send her more forward.  She wasn't grumpy about going forward at all.  As she got more consistent in her frame, I asked her for a down transition.  Anytime she dropped her poll during the transition,  I would send her forward again, and then ask for the transition again.  Once I got her to the walk, I worked on getting her to the halt.  I repeated the same thing in the other direction. Once that was all good, I asked her for some turn on the forehand at the walk.  She wasn't grumpy at all about the cue for that either.  She was a little sluggish to respond at first, so we worked on it until her reaction was more prompt. To finish up, I long lined her at the walk up and down the hills a

 Gia started out with a little better attitude today.  We did a lot of stretching and bending at the walk at first.  However, when I picked her up to the trot, she felt resistant and kicked out a little.  It was only a tiny bit in the beginning, so we continued to warm up with some bending, leg yields and a few transitions.  Then I added a few small jumps.  She was inconsistent with her tempo, and not very straight in the beginning.  As we worked through it, she did get better with both issues by the end.  However, in the middle of working through it, she got a little naughty again.  Definitely not as much as on Wednesday, but a bit more intense.  Since it seems like it's becoming a habit, I had her stop and turn a tight circle, mostly to the right, using my right leg to push her hind end over until she softened and relaxed.  I think I only had to do that two or three times, and then she backed off.  When she went over her last jump, she was more balanced, rhythmic, steadier in the

 Gia was extra spicy today!  Every time I asked her to go forward, or move off my right leg especially, she reacted with kicking out, bucking, resisting, or sucking back.  My best guess for her behavior today was due to the significant drop in temperature and the slight breeze.  Every time she reacted negatively to my request, I simply kept asking, monotonously so, until she finally quit her brattiness and moved off my leg.  As soon as she would comply with my request, I would cease the cue and relax as much as possible for as long as possible, until I needed to give her the next cue.  She would get pretty good in the trot, but when I came back to a walk and then wanted to trot again, she would start up with her attitude again.  So, I did a lot of transitions, until she was more obedient.  We did a lot of straightening work, but most of our ride was about having a better attitude.  

 I rode Gia at CDP today.  There was a lot going there today!  Several tractors in the nearby arena, and folks moving jumps around in the ring Gia was in, all made for a lot of distraction and things to be worried about.  I basically just did a lot of circles and leg yields at the walk and trot to get her attention on me.  Where the jumps had been moved, there were funny bare spots in the arena that startled her.  We worked around those spots in both directions until she was confident enough to go over them.  Where the jumps had been moved to new places, I did a leg yield or shoulder-in past them until she was more relaxed with the relocation.  By the end of our ride, she was much more relaxed with all the goings-on, and with all the stuff in new places.