Gia - session 497 - First horse show!!

 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 to do everything I asked.  We ended up getting a 30.0%, and started out tied for second place! Not bad for our first time!  We even got three 8's!

Next up was our jumping test.  The course was fairly straightforward.  Warming up, Gia felt great!  She went forward and jumped everything I pointed her at!  She even cantered quite a bit, with no hint of bucking.  The jumps in warm up are pretty plain though, and in the show ring they are a bit more decorated, with flowers and gates, etc.

Our jump round started a bit tense once she saw all the decorated jumps in the different arena.  Our first jump was a white gate.  I could feel her backing off as we approached it, and despite all my leg and several whacks with the whip, we did not get over it the first time.  Our second approach was successful though!  The next jump came up about 8 strides later, but in between there was a squeaky fence gate and, heaven forbid, a person sitting on the other side!  Gia was so busy worrying about them, that she didn't see the crossrail in front of her, so we stopped at that one too.  The second attempt was successful, although a bit sideways.  All the jumps after that went fairly well.  She was nervous, but she went over them.  By the end, she was even feeling a little more forward.

We ended our day on a score of 42%, and finished in last place.  Despite the disappointing finish, I'm actually quite happy about Gia's overall attitude.  She never thought about being naughty, and really tried to be good.  Horse shows are scary places, but they will get easier the more we go to.