Gia - session 566 - lesson with Suzin

 I haven't been feeling well this week, so I'm a little behind on my blog post from Wednesday.  Gia and I had a lesson with Suzin.  We started the usual way - stretching at the walk, walk/trot transitions, etc.  We did a little shoulder-in for straightness as well.  Suzin had us try an exercise where we did a quarter turn-on-the-haunches at the walk, then right into canter.  We had a lot of moments where things didn't go as planned - couldn't get the turn correct, didn't have enough bend, not as responsive to the canter cue, little bit of bucking, etc.  However, we also had a few moments where the canter transition was REALLY good! I felt Gia sit down behind, and push off well with her hind end, and lift in the front.  She even did an (unplanned) baby capriole.  It was definitely hard for her, but I could feel her trying to get it.  The work did create a bit of tension, so we finished with working on getting the canter transition from more of a stretching position.  After a few tries, that felt pretty successful as well!

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