Gia - session 431 - flat and jumping

 Gia was a bit tense when I got on today.  I worked on stretching at the walk, and that helped a little.  When I picked up to the trot, she still felt tense, so we did a lot of transitions and bending.  It helped a little, but she was still quite tense.

Sometimes, if I let her jump, she actually relaxes.  So, since today was supposed to be a jumping day anyway, I decided to pop her over a few jumps, despite her flatwork not being so good.  (I did opt to keep her in the arena today rather than going out in the field though).  The first few jumps were a bit of a mess.  They were small, and while she was picking her feet up over the jumps, she was not really staying balanced afterwards.  I have also noticed that she tends to jump better if the jumps are bigger.  So, once she was a little more warmed up, I put her over some of the bigger ones, even though the smaller ones weren't so good.  She was much more together and organized in her movement, and much more relaxed!  It doesn't usually work out this way, but as Suzin often says, "The horse doesn't read the books!"