All The Kings' Horses

 Hayley rode Gia today at CDP.  Of course, Gia was not as naughty as she was this weekend.  She did try some of her bucking.  Hayley sent her forward immediately and repeatedly until Gia quit the antics and did as she was told.  Hayley also jumped a few jumps with her.  She looked quite good!

 I took Gia to the Sedgefield Hunter/Jumper show yesterday at the Carolina Horse Park.  I started out lunging her, and she was about the same as she usually is at shows - a bit distracted at first, but eventually more focused on me. When we walked up to warm up, she was nervous but moving forward.  She was very tight and tense in the flat part of our warm up, so I just kept asking softly for what I wanted, and gave big releases when she gave it.  Unfortunately, that did not work as well this time.  She continued to be tense for most of it.  When she felt more relaxed, I jumped a little.  Some of the jumps were good, but some were not.  There was a lot of bucking and kicking out after the bad ones.  I would pull her up quickly each time, so it didn't get too far out of control.  I did come to realize that she was worse if we were jumping towards the trailer, so I tried to do more of the jumping away from the direction of the trailer.  That was only slightly better. With no time left

 Saturdays are busy days, so I only had time for a brief ride with Gia today.  So, I made the most of it.  She started out feeling tense, like she has the last couple of rides.  I ignored it/didn't make a big deal of it, and just made simple, small requests of her.  BUT, I MADE SURE, to REWARD her with my voice (she really loves to hear that she is a "good girl!"), and a softening of my aids.  Within minutes, she had let go of her tension and angry attitude, and was tuned in to me and waiting for my next request.  All we did was some walk, trot, leg yields, bending, good corners, transitions, and haunches-in.  Today was about "Quality Over Quantity"!

 I lunged Gia over a few of the "scary" jumps today - the flat tires, the small brick wall, and the small corner jumps.  She balked at each jump at least once, sometimes more.  When she eventually went over the jumps, I used the clicker and then gave her a treat.  She was much braver about the tires.  The wall was the next easiest jump.  She seemed a bit confused about how to tackle the small corner, but she did eventually get it.  She was a bit dramatic at times today though - lots of bolting and kicking out when I made her do what she didn't want to.  She eventually settled down though.

 Gia and I finally had a dressage lesson with Suzin after not having one for the past 6 weeks!  We kept it pretty easy and simple today, but Gia did fairly well.  We did a lot of stretching, bending, leg yields, changes of direction, changes of bend, and straightness.  Gia felt a little tense, especially in the beginning, and a little throughout the ride, but she did not buck.  I also worked on not being tight in my thighs, and trying to be more still overall.  Once she got into the work, she forgot that she even wanted to be tense.  She was quite obedient, and seemed more supple since the last time we worked with Suzin!

 I took Gia to CDP today for a lesson.  It's been a while, between her being sick, and the weather, and me being out of town, she hasn't been to CDP in 7 weeks!  We mainly worked on bending and leg yielding at the walk and trot.  Charlie had me keep her poll up to help prevent her from getting on her forehand and being able to buck.  We also worked a lot on haunches-in to canter.  I really had to keep myself aligned, otherwise, she would swing her haunches back out when I asked for the transition.  He also had me only canter a few steps at a time to lessen the chances of her rotating to her forehand and bucking.  As soon as we stopped cantering, we had to get right back to a slower trot with haunches-in.  There were a few bucks, but we also had a few good canters in each direction.

 I worked with Gia on her flatwork today.  We started out just at the walk, with lots of stretching and bending and straightening.  When I first picked up the trot, it seemed to go fine.  I did a few transitions, but those were going fairly well.  As we worked at the trot, and I asked her to bend, she started to feel stuck, and then started to throw in some bucking.  She has perfected her bucking technique.  Now, instead of just kicking out behind, she has learned to jump up and then toss me forward.  It's definitely more effective at trying to get me unseated.  In fact, at one point, she was able to throw me out of the saddle, but I managed to land on her neck and not go any further.  Both of us were a little surprised, so luckily, she didn't continue to buck.  I've landed on horse's necks before, but this was the first time that I didn't slide off.  Her neck is so big that I actually felt I could continue to ride her seated there!  However, I managed to get back i

 We had drill team practice today, so Gia got to pair up with her favorite (ha ha) little bay pony Dover to ride through our test several times.  The little pony's rider Julia is learning to make her pony trot fast enough to keep up with Gia, so she actually got to have a fairly normal working trot for most of the work.  There was a lot of turning and bending, so lots of practice on those things.  She was a bit fussy at first, but much more supple and responsive by the end.

 I had to keep things kind of brief with Gia today, so I lunged her over a couple of the "scary" jumps in the field - the tires and the small  brick wall.  She stopped at the tires the first time I sent her towards them, after I had warmed her up with some trotting on the lunge.  It took a little bit of coaxing with the whip to get her over them, but once she jumped it, I used the clicker and gave her a treat.  She hesitated on the second approach, but did go over with less prompting.  Again, a click and treat.  After that, she went back and forth over it several times with no problems, each time getting a click and treat.  I did the same thing with the small wall, which she has stopped and/or hesitated at under saddle.  She went over it with no problems at all on the lunge.

 I worked with Gia on her flatwork today.  We started out with a bit of stretching, bending and leg yields at the walk.  When I asked for the trot, her transition was not that good, so we worked on walk to trot transitions.  She was crooked and sluggish.  At times, when I had to use the whip, she responded with a bit of bucking.  I kept pushing her forward, each time, until she had a more respectable reaction.  Once I was able to get the trot transition in a better place, we did a bit of stretching and bending at the trot as well.

 I kept Gia's ride today pretty brief.  Partly because of time, and partly because she just had a pretty big weekend.  All we did was walk on the trail for about 20 minutes.  She was a bit nervous and quick for the most part.  The worst part was the muddy spot on the trail.  She refused it the first two times, once in each direction.  I was able to get her through it though.  The third and fourth time she went through it with no hesitation.  

 I warmed Gia up for the show on Sunday, and it went fairly well.  I started with a bit of lunging.  She was much more calm Sunday than she had been on Saturday.  Then I hopped on and walked up to the warm up arena.  My main focus was on getting her to relax and stretch, and stay focused on me rather than all the other craziness in the dressage warm up.  I was expecting her to be much worse than she actually was.  I did a lot of baby leg yields and bending.  EVERY TIME she did ANYTHING I liked, I made sure to soften and stretch my hands forward and verbally tell her "good girl!"  I could feel her release tension every time she received the rewards.  We did a little bit of free walk, then medium walk and working trot.  We did a lot of transitions, and basically just tried to be real chill.  When it was finally her turn in the dressage arena, she actually did really well!  She was still a bit nervous, but much more relaxed than the last time at a show.  She even got a couple of

I entered Gia at the War Horse combined training show this weekend.  Today was the schooling day.  We have stalls for all the horses, and she gets quite upset anytime the horse next to her leaves to go do something.  I've had to maneuver horses around so she isn't alone.  Eventually, she will get used to all this.   So, I definitely remembered to lunge her in the rope halter this afternoon before I rode her.  She was quite talkative and excited at first, but it didn't take her too long to settle down and focus.   Under saddle, I rode her up to the warm up area for the stadium schooling.  She is entered in the Green As Grass division, so the jumps are only about 18" high, but the hard part for her isn't the jumps anyway, it's everything else.  She was definitely tense in warm up.  After the long walk up to the warm up, I trotted her a little bit, focusing on little leg yields and bending to get her attention on me.  Once I started jumping, she calmed down a bit

 I hopped on Gia with no lunging today (mostly because my brain is full of a million other thoughts, and I completely forgot).  She was a bit tense while warming up at the walk with stretching and bending.  She was also a bit tense when I picked up the trot.  I think she thought about being naughty, but never followed through.  We did transitions, and a lot of bending and leg yields.  She felt very tight through her body, but did feel a bit looser by the end of warm up. I haven't jumped her since before she got sick (several weeks ago), so I wasn't sure how it would go.  She thought about being naughty as I pointed her at small jumps at the trot, but again, didn't follow through.  Her first several jumps were quite awkward, like she forgot how to use her legs.  Which is probably exactly what happened. I trotted her around, jumped a jump, got her organized on a circle, and jumped another jump.  I repeated that exercise several times until she started to remember what to do. 

 I rode Gia today with no lunging beforehand.  She was fairly good, overall, until we got to the canter.  We started with stretching and bending at the walk.  Then we warmed up at the trot with some stretching, bending, leg yields and transitions.  She was a little tight at times, but loosened up as we got going.  I was working all over the ring, and she was fairly obedient and responsive.   When I asked for the canter, she got tense and started bucking almost immediately.  I was half expecting this since she had been out of work for a while.  I kept after her to go forward until she quit bucking, and then I relaxed.  We went through the same routine in the opposite direction as well.  The third time around was a bit better, with less bucking, and she relaxed a bit quicker.  By the fourth and fifth time, she had decided it wasn't worth the effort and was fairly good, although a little tense.

 I lunged Gia in the rope halter before I rode her today.  She was pretty quiet, although a little distracted.  When she seemed more focused, I hopped on to ride.  I warmed up with a bit of walk work - stretching and bending.  At the trot, I also worked on stretching, bending and leg yielding.  She was a bit tense at the trot to start, but then settled in to the work.

 I didn't have much time to ride Gia yesterday, but we did do a little bit of walk and trot work under saddle.  No lunging, although, she was a bit tense, so I probably should have started with that.  The walk work was good - some stretching and bending.  When I picked up the trot, I felt the tension.  We did some bending and stretching and transitions.  She felt a little more relaxed by the end.

 I lunged Gia in the rope halter today, still working on the same things as the last two days - transitions between walk, trot and canter, all on my cue.  She did pretty well with all of it, and was fairly relaxed.  Afterwards, I hopped on and took her for a walk on the trail. She was a little nervous, but not too bad.  I'm definitely going to have to take my loppers back there and clear things up a little higher though!

 I worked with Gia on free lunging in the round pen again today.  After several walk/trot transitions, I added some canter/trot transitions.  She seemed more obedient to the cues today, and still fairly relaxed!

 I was finally able to get back to working with Gia today!  I kept it very light, since she's been out for about 2 weeks.  All we did was some light free lunging in the round pen.  After warming up with some trot and stretching, we did walk/trot transitions.  She was great picking up the trot, but did not want to keep the walk as long as I did.  Not surprising.  She probably has a bit of pent up energy now that she feels better!