Gia - session 616 - gymnastics

This morning's work with Gia was a bit interesting.  It started out with me noticing that the arena rake was facing the wrong way, so the tines were out.  I rode up to it on Gia, and attempted to pick it up and turn it around.  

Now, I have done stuff like this many times with many horses.  If it's their first time, they often react a bit nervously, but usually relax fairly quickly.  I should have known this would not be the case with Gia....

  

When I picked it up, she immediately got nervous and started to walk away from it, but because I was holding it, it followed her, so she got more anxious and I could tell she was going to bolt.  So, I dropped it, which also terrified her, causing her to leap into the air to get away from the most offensive rake.  Danielle had come out and picked it up off the ground, so I attempted picking it up myself again, only to have the exact same reaction.  I decided that, for today, the best thing would be to have Danielle handle the rake, but bring it close to Gia, that way I could keep both hands on the reins and have a bit more control.  She did get nervous and tense up, thinking about bolting again, but I steadied her.  As soon as she relaxed a tiny bit, I had Danielle walk away with the rake.  

After that, I allowed her to relax at the walk for a minute, and then asked for trot.  She felt very bunched up, like she was going to buck, so I immediately started doing a lot of small circles and changes of bend and direction.  My goal today was a gymnastic, so once she relaxed, I trotted her over the poles.  It took a few trips before she relaxed and got into it, and then I added a crossrail.  Sometimes she trotted the crossrail, sometimes she jumped it, sometimes she thought about bucking again.  Finally, she was more relaxed, so I added one more crossrail.  I let her finish when she had a good trip through all of it.