All The Kings' Horses

 If you've been wondering why I haven't made any blog posts about Gia lately, it's because she's been very much under the weather.  It all started about a week and a half ago with her not wanting to eat a majority of her food.  We took her temperature and it was around 103*!  That's very high, even for a horse whose temperature is typically anywhere between 100* and 101*.  We had the vet out, but they couldn't really find anything wrong with her, except possibly a hypermotile gut.  The vet took bloodwork and nasal swabs, and we kept monitoring her temperature.  At one point, it got as high as 104.7*!  She received banamine to lower her temperatures, and ulcerguard to protect her tummy.  Meanwhile, she wasn't interested in food, and just seemed generally lethargic.  With temperatures that high, we were also worried about laminitis , so we monitored her feet for heat and higher pulse rates.  Luckily, she never showed any signs of laminitis!  The vet eventually

 Gia was a bit excited/nervous today.  Something caught her eye in my neighbors yard.  We stared and stared, but us mere humans could not figure out what it was.  But Gia was convinced that it was going to run over and kill her in the cross ties.  So, I didn't expect our ride to go very well today ... Still I was determined that we would work over the scary tires.  I took her out on the lunge line to go back and forth over the tires.  Each time she went over, I clicked and gave her a treat.  She was definitely anxious about it at first, but it did not take long to get her over it, and after several tries she was going over it much more easily. So, I decided to hop on and see how things went.  We went directly back to the tires, and there was only a little wavering on approach, but then she went right over.  I proceeded to jump back and forth over it a few times to solidify things.  We also jumped a few other small jumps around the field.  At first she felt a little keyed up still,

 Gia and I had an intense dressage lesson with Suzin today.  Gia started out feeling not quite straight, and a bit of a wiggle worm when I applied leg.  Since she has learned several lateral movements, she tries to offer them like a dog offers new tricks it learns.  It can be quite frustrating when all I want her to do is go straight.   So, after we warmed up with some stretching, we worked on several walk/trot transitions until she was softer and more obedient.  Then Suzin fired away at us, throwing a bunch of different moves in a variety of places around the arena - shoulder-in, leg yield, haunches-in, changes of bend, VERY correct and precise circles, LOTS of transitions to halt and rein-back, transitions to canter.  It all came in fast succession, but Gia and I kept up fairly well.  At the end, since Gia had offered a few steps on her own accidentally, Suzin had me ask her for a bit of half-pass .  It was only a few steps, but it was there! (Click on the link to see what half-pass

 Gia was quite put off by one of my tire jumps in the field last week, so I decided to tackle it today.  I started by lunging her over it.  It took several tries to get her over it on the lunge line, but once I did, I used my clicker to reward her, and then gave her a treat.  Every time she went over it, I clicked and treated her.  Eventually, she was going back and forth over it much better.  I did make it a little smaller and longer to make it a little easier.  Not sure why it is so scary to her, but it is what it is. Under saddle, I tackled it again.  Going back and forth over it, and clicking and treating her with each effort.  When she was doing that jump fairly well, I played over a few of the other jumps, including the bench and the cordwood jump that I made larger and skinnier.  She was a little put off by the "newer" cordwood jump, and only caught barely the side of it the first two times.  Eventually, I was able to get her over it more centered.

 Yesterday was drill team practice, so Gia worked side by side with her little partner, Dover.  While we ran through the test at the walk and a little trot, I worked with her on bending where appropriate, and staying soft in my hands.  When we trotted, Dover's rider was working on getting him fast enough to keep up  with Gia's trot.  I did keep her a little slower than a regular working trot, but she was very obedient and responsive to the request.  She was also very good whenever the little pony was close behind or beside her! For being a very large horse, as well as an alpha, that is pretty impressive!

 I warmed Gia up with stretching and straightness work and bending at the walk and trot today.  It was a little harder to get her straight tracking right, but fairly easy tracking left.  Once we were warmed up, I added a few crossrails in to the mix.  Whenever I had her straight, I headed to a jump, then took time to get her straight again afterwards before heading to the next jump.  She did get a little quick to the jumps at times, so I had to regulate her tempo a little better.  She did manage to land on the correct lead most of the time, especially to the right, which is usually her harder direction.  She didn't have any naughty moments, and didn't even think about being naughty.  Overall, it was a productive and relaxing ride.

 Gia and I started our dressage lesson this morning with a bit of stretching at the walk.  We moved on to walk/trot transitions, and then added in some leg yields to help loosen up the resistance during the transitions. Suzin then had us work more on leg yield to haunches-in.  It was difficult at the trot, so we worked on it at the walk first.  We were able to get some good moments at the walk, so we tried again at the trot.  Still difficult, but we were able to get some moments the second time around!  We then finished up with shoulder-in, to a change of direction across the width of the arena, to haunches-in.  I felt Gia really starting to understand what was being asked of her!

 Gia and I travelled to CDP for a jump lesson today.  We warmed up with stretching, bending, and leg  yields at the walk and trot.  We also went over a few ground poles.  She felt very loose and relaxed and obedient. Charlie set up a good size crossrail with a couple of ground poles for her to start with.  She was very good - obedient, relaxed, and figured out what to do with her feet pretty quickly.  Then he had us do a fe different jump courses that included about 7 jumps up to about 2'3", with a couple of oxers and a couple of lines.  He wants her to trot most of her fences still, even though she cantered afterwards, so that she can work on her balance and what to do with her feet.  She was about 50/50 getting things correct.  But the entire time she was eager and definitely trying her best!

 Well, Gia went to her first Combined Training show yesterday, and it wasn't too bad! I warmed her up with a little lunging, where she was actually quite relaxed.  When we headed up for our dressage warm up, she got a little nervous with all the action, but no worse than usual.  In warm up, she felt ok.  She didn't do anything naughty, just tense and nervous about the crowds.  We warmed up with stretching, bending, leg yields, transitions, etc, just like we do at home.   The show ring was in a covered arena.  She's been in one before, but, of course, this one was scary.  She also noticed some of her barn friends had come up for their warm ups, and was a bit distracted by them.  I kept her focused on me with circles and figure 8's as we waited out turn.   Once our bell rang, signaling it was our time to go, Gia and I headed down centerline for our first time together.  She was very tight and tense, pretty much throughout the test.  But she was never naughty, and did try

 I had a brief flat ride with Gia today, in preparation for her show tomorrow.  She felt great!  (Which probably means she will be full of herself tomorrow!)  I started with some stretching at the walk, then moved on to medium walk/free walk transitions.  We followed that up with stretching at the trot, and some walk/trot transitions.  After a little break, we practiced our test.  Hopefully, things go as well tomorrow!

 I warmed Gia up with some stretching at the walk and trot.  I also did a little bit of bending and leg yields.  She felt a little stiffer to the left, and it was hard for her to stretch at the trot at first.  When I picked her up and started jumping, she did very well!  She never tried anything naughty, even though it was quite windy, and even though a barrel fell over when she was nearby.  I jumped quite a few jumps, from crossrails up to about 2'3" with no problems.  I mainly focused on keeping an even feel in both hands and feet, and allowing her to figure out what to do.  She made a lot of good choices!